heres some helpful tips. destory the enemys mages.they can heal their comrads and cause damage to all of your people. gain control of the church on the first level. if the enemy has alot of armies, take 'em all down and raid there castle before they spread to mines and villages. try to get you mages in the back to make room up front. IMPORTANT:when you have a fire sorrcer, look to see if the enemy has at least 2 basic foot soilders around 50 HP.if so, use the special to knock them down at once. this will save you time and money.

good game!

problems for draylocks:
1)do not get poison assault.it is not as useful as 2x damage!and u will only get 1/3 chance to have 2x damage.
2)do not get your mage at front and melee attackers at back(for humans too!)for front mages,they can be easily killed.for melee units,they cant attack from long distance.
3)do not get fire warrior also.they are just mages with no special skill,not strong too.and it will only give you 1/2 chance to get fire mage.

problem for human:hard to get swordman if u research knights.but knight use so much iron.so better dont research him,for swordman with less hp but very very high damage!

2)defensive cleric is important.Get one in each army!u can sell and try again if u cant get one.
3)mage heroes army:3 swordmans(knights),1cleric,1 defend cleric
4)warrior heroes:2 swordmans(knights),1mage,1cleric,1 defend cleric

For another race:draylocks
1)get your mage hero with 2 foot demon.Research assaulter(the most important unit)
2)buy an assaulter and you can start capturing more places.Note:this is harder then humans.Use your assaulter special skill to get double damage.Then use your hero's special skill..u will attack all enemies with 2x damage!Careful for do not get 2 double damage or u will lose it.
3)upgrade youe hero of course.you can get warrior hero now.Then upgrade the mage hero to 5lvl.
4)follow the human's tech insturction:get fire mage,hell demon and assault lord.Don't research other units!you won't need it but u can get hellhound optionally.
5)arm your mage hores with:3hell demons,1 master assault 1 fire master.
6)with warrior heroes:2 hell demons,1master assault 2 fire master.(fire master=mage hero!)
7)if you got hellhounds,place it at middle or it is as helpless as a baby.don't get more than 1 hellhound in each army.(i recommend you do not research it!)
8)Just complete all the missons!

It's as easy as ABC even in normal mode.
Start with only 1 army.
Get warrior hero for human and mage hero for draylocks.
Human: get 3 footman.research healer and mage. dont upgrade tech first.upgrade your hero.for 3lvl hero you can take one more soldier (buy healer). u can buy one more amry for backup if you need it.Then,get more villages and mines and upgrade your hero to 5lvl. Buy a mage now.
here you will find out that the enemies are....toys! U can take them down easily. Collect your gold and iron. Then upgrade tech.research cleric and better mage. Man at arm is the most important.
at misson 2-5, you can take all the enemies down with your first force (heal after each fight). Then, get lvl3 tech and create more lvl5 heroes (like mages). Then u can win all the missons easily.
Note: before you end your turn, make sure that u won't attacked by 2 enemies forces in one turn!!!

Start of with 2 armys and get villages and mines close to you. You start with a lot of money so you should get appr. magician and the cleric. The hero you should get for early lvls. is the  warrior hero. Just dont always get him. Heal after EVERY battle so youll be ready if the enemy attacks you. Finally when you get all of the units on one discovery lvl. , save money to go to the next discovery lvl. and get those units. also try to get the best units for each army. Get one extra army each lvl.

the game is cool but really hard even on easy mode. i get my but kicked on level 1 or if im really lucky the beginning of 2. anyone got  a strategy guide?

Fun game with a nice strategy aspect.  Only a few minor bugs.  For instance research can be done to upgrade foot soldiers to either knights or swordsman.  But once both upgrades are researched I can't figure out how to choose one over the other.  Upgrading units almost always produces knights, only sometimes and seemingly at random do I get a swordsman.  Same problem for healers to clerics versus defensive mages. 
Still a great game despite a few flaws.  And the description does say that it's being beta tested.
SammyG