Hi, we've played first game and a few things were bit confusing, the biggest problem is:

How to define Military contest is it the same as military contest dice or is it different.

How we explained it is that the Military contest is the whole battle (eg. Campain, conquest, whateva). So some effects you play at the beginning and they are for the whole battle (like i played something like, discard 2 sorcery and enemy can have max. 2 dice). Which i quite strong (but you pay the price). Or is this efect only for one dice throw (now it would be rather weak).

The problem is (i think). That on some cards it sais military contest and it would be more reasonable if it was military contest throw (or how is it defined, a can't remeber the wording exactly). Like on of us had something like: "when you loose military contest, instead of loosing unit, discard this card" (the card was called something like royal bodyguard). This card would make much more sense to play after the dice were thrown to prevent loss of an unit. Now it seems, that this card can be played after player looses battle, which kinda sucks.

Can anyone clarify this ?

I've found this
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/thread/392879/what-exactly-is-a-contest

it seems that Contest is a single roll, but this would make some cards SUCK NOODLES.

No, not really. I think you're just rather short-sighted.

Forcing your opponent to roll only two dice or getting to reroll a number of dice is an extremely powerful asset. Remember that when you win one contest, you kill a unit, which makes the enemy weaker - he gets to roll one die less for every casualty. When you get your opponent rolling downhill, he usually tumbles all the way down.

I think you're just expecting too much from the cards. In our games, we're hoarding Kingdom cards as it is, and we're running these "weaker" (official) versions of them. I can't even imagine how much we'd be using them if they affected an entire siege or campaign.

Also, it's rather surprising that you didn't compare military cards to intrigue cards. Why would anyone pay 2 gold for Prospero (reroll two dice in one intrigue roll) when you could get a ton of goodies for the same amount in a military contest? No, the logic fails, which makes it obvious that military cards also affect only one roll.

When facing issues like these, it's better to make a comparison of similar rules/cards concerning different aspects of the game. A reality check ("Can this really be this powerful for only 2 gold?") is also a good way to start.

The only card that "sucks noodles" is Allegiance to the Crown of Aquilonia, which makes Conan fight for you in one military contest... Considering that a battle/siege/campaign lasts for several rounds, Conan does a rather illogical thing: he fights for Aquilonia for one military contest and bashes their heads in during the next! I guess his allegiance isn't too deep-founded.