Marshmud: No turn-based game is ever balanced. For every game either moving first or moving second is a better option, and master players will exploit that easily. Even chess is unbalanced in favor of white, and between grandmasters a black player can be quite happy if he gets even a draw.

However, if you check the stats for the other games mentioned (Maharajah, Horde Chess, Battleboat Plus, etc.) you will see that those games are so unbalanced that one side automatically has a huge advantage. It's not that a highly skilled player can exploit a bias in the game, but that the game is heavily loaded against one side regardless of skill or ability.