Ideas and suggestions.

Limiting the timer will only affect taking small stacks (a couple of harpies, fairies, or vampires). I introduced a similar unwritten rule in Hard Choice, and to my knowledge, it was never applied. Is it worth spending resources to implement it when a timer for battles between players, limiting the time to take a turn, would be much more useful?
At the beginning of the game, there's plenty of time, and it doesn't take long to take starting harpies (and it's not just harpies that are used). So, is this easy army boost considered a normal occurrence?
Of course, there's also the graveyard with a similar take, but at least it doesn't give an army (although it does give experience, money, and boots). Note that both objects were introduced in HotA; in SoD, such takes are not possible.