[Keir Maxwell]

Originally posted by Nagot Gick Fel:

(3) If you want to play with uber-bless effects, 3 Woodsmen cost the same as a Niefel Giant, get slightly worse stats (except prot which is much worse), but get 50% more combined hp.

I'm not a supercomabatent expert as I've always found them to risky compared to building early killer armies - my favourite approach in the past. However I'm not convinced about the Woodsmen because of the protection. Its to low to survive and the key to SC's is being virtually impossible to kill vs your present opponent.

What about:

Dominion: Heart of Winter, strength 6
Virtue - Air 9/Nature 4
Cold +3
Leaves 123 points to tune the remaining to your liking.

Or, if you plan to produce Hell Swords en masse (and therefore, don't need the nature 4):

Dominion: Utgard, strength 6
Virtue - Air 9
Cold +3
Order +3 (the Utgard theme requires order +1 at least, so why not go the whole route)
Leaves 120 points for extra goodies. At least perfectionnists will have the satisfaction of spending every available design point.

Wondering what the air 9 is for? Orb lightning? Air bless effects arn't exactly inspiring but I guess with quickness Orb lightning could be worth it.

I like the Son of Niefel for Jotunheim - early it him and his wolves make all the difference.

What does quickness 50% do for blessed mages?

With Jotun or Abyssia I like a very high dominion - like 10. Using 8 for the "Back to the Ice Age" race is the compromise in race design I do not like - 6 is very low. Dominion is normally important in battle but for cold and hot races it is often crucial - playing Dom I I lost two moderately well equipped Ice Devil to 30 tritons in a hot sea! My own heat dominion to make it all the more embarrassing!

Don't worry, be happy . . .

Keir