Hubs actually managed to get his whole band painted up. I assume that's why the Westerners were slaughtered. Dice always roll better for painted miniatures. It didn't help that all but one of the cards for my warband were in French, either. Now I have been known on occasion to parle le français, but it's clearly been too long since I used it actively. My rusty linguistic skills did nothing to improve my chances.
Certain people failed to mention that all the information on the cards for each character is in the rulebook until the 4th turn... but I digress. English cards have been ordered for future games so all is well. Speaking of the rulebook, if you haven't seen it, is gorgeous. The art in it is just lovely.
Overall, though, I liked the mechanics of the game. The way dominance worked confused me at first (blaming the French cards here) but an interesting idea. Gives one band a slight advantage in the beginning, but that can quickly change and be very important. I'm looking forward to playing some more Hell Dorado in the future, especially once my band is painted.