Discussion: Balance template, features, and tactics.

Hmm... choosing the Swamp as a starting faction? IMHO, it's far from the best option...
But if the Swamp was chosen for this template, well, it's a valid option... But no more. The Swamp's strength isn't in the lizards... And the ranged attack will just take up an extra slot.

After a few games with Vistana, I realized that he's not inferior to Valiska, for example. Recently, on the second week, I managed to conquer a max-difficulty map with 60+ griffin riders, 5 ducks, 8 vasas, and a weak devourer. In this scenario, the flies didn't dare to attack the griffins even once. Valiska, with her marksmen, would have taken a beating in a similar situation, but Vistana only lost the devourer and 6 vasas. In fact, almost all the Swamp units are no worse than the Castle units and are generally stronger, and they are also cheaper to build. You're also wrong about the griffins; they can do a lot of damage in the first or second week. I would probably choose the Swamp as one of the first factions for balance.