Now I understand that a well balanced party is recommended, and I knew what I was getting into picking a party with all elves, but I also think that many of the level designs really favor not moving at all, which is a little unfair to the player looking for the speedy maneuverability. The biggest issues I find is when you begin the level already completely surrounded, begin the battle already in the most effective defensive position, or the map it takes place in is too small for movement to matter. An extreme example is some battles in the "viscous tombs", where on the first turn you couldn't move more than a walk in any direction, and even after you've broken out by killing most of the enemies, you often still can't use the full range of dash because of how small and cramped the map is. Another extreme example was the first fight in "diamonds of the kobolds". I tried so many times to defeat that level and when I finally did it was by placing my warior and priest in the little nook where you start off, and getting lucky enough to draw 2 pieces of Heavy Armor early on. If this happened every once and a while, I think it would be fine, as every once in a while you do get the big open maps that really favor speed, but more often than not i've wished I just had the extra health, as i'm discarding all my movements every turn anyway.
I would still say that every map doesn't need to be a kite map for elfs just as not every map is dwarf friendly so unless you claim this is a problem on every map i don't see the issue.
On certain maps elves have much harder time than any other race, due to their low health. As long as warrior class is concerned - that means you can equip more Heavy Armor but you still need to draw it Onto wizard - most of the time the dash won't let you get safer than a walk or run, since there won't be enough room - so at those maps elven wizard is at huge disadvantage compared to dwarf/human (altough teleport cards could be insanely useful on elven wizard!). Cleric has a similar issue as wizard, but with more defensive cards on those maps you should most likely be fine.
On the other hand, I've soloed a lot of enemies with an elven mage due to his high mobility (and resistant hide tbh) - I did Throne of Strentch vs Strentch and 2 of his Gougers (don't recall if this is the correct type) when my cleric and fighter was already dead. So there's a win some lose some situation with elves, but can't really see myself running a non-mage elf.
Elf priest is painful. Elf warrior would be good if living and dying in melee didn't lean so heavily on the RNG. Elf wizard is awesome, depending on the map. I'm really convinced that all-humans is the most effective party.
I know not every map is going to be elf friendly, but my point is is that most maps aren't. Most of the time I move my characters once a piece in the whole battle. And that is not an exaggeration. Every once and a while, sure, dwarfs need something too, but give the elves something more than having an easier time with imps.
And once you are in a fight, elf skills give you even more movement you can't use while dwarf skills give you blocks, toughness, and cancel debuff. Dwarf 4eva.
You discount stuff often found in their racials like Jump Back, Dodge et c. I wouldn't count elves out.
What about elves not being affected by movement-ending difficult terrain ? I am thinking of Legolas walking on snow. I know that balancewise it is openeing a can of worms
But my dwarf finds it hard to survive on most maps against attacks so your slightly easier time kiting is still equal to my slightly easier time taking damage and not dying... not to mention what a single encumber does to dwarfs. I personally don't run elfs right now so i could be wrong but i think they get what they pay for with their tradeoff and people expect them to just be uncatchable. The only workable fix i can see is to putt more free move cards in their racial slots but i thought that was what the move 1 dodges where doing already.
