building a complex frontpage
I know you said you didn't want to use it, but this is a PERFECT use case for Panels.  I'm not a huge Panels user and will generally steer clear of it if I can, but sometimes you have to step outside of your comfort zone and just use the best tool for the job.

There's a video here that focuses on using Views and Panels for a home page layout.


  In this Drupal video tutorial we take a brief look at panels. I show
  you how to recreate a home page that relies on views content panes. As
  a result, we create a two column home page panel which pulls in recent
  content from across all content types and shows which users are
  online.


But if you are REALLY set in your ways, then go with the blocks.  You can always put the blocks into Panels at a later date.