[Keir Maxwell]

I like Swamp Guards as pretty much everyting else gets shot to pieces and somebodies got to take the arrows. Problem is do I like SGs enough to pay the race design costs involved in getting enough resources to really use them? This was always the dilema which hung C'tis in Dom I for me and as yet I haven't been convinced C'tis is free of it. As it seems you can build SGs everywhere the dilema may not be so bad. Particularily if you intend to use small unit of SG's almost exclusively as pin cushions.

As people have said using Undead to take the arrows is one way but you do lose them. In Dom 1 I often used a really small unit of SGs and relied on them not routing off screen due to their slow speed.

Looking at the serpent dancers (sacred dudes) I wonder if there is some way of making them work with a water based pretender so that their defense becomes absurd and they get an extra attack? Obviously a screen of undead is an option vs arrows and perhaps using elite warrios to race around the flank and take out the archers - though its cheaper to rout indie's than get in behind them and have to kill everyone. If you use undead to take the shots you could combo in poison slingers.

The most promising option for me at this point is some sort of fear/bless tomb race which tries to scare its opponents away. I still haven't done the testing to see if I can get it to work and there are alot of pitfalls to overcome. Still if I can get the start to work then there is hope.

I haven't really looked at the Miasma theme yet but would approach it something like - high defense Stronghold (Hill Fortress - maybe Fortress if its tough enough) plus Miasma and reasonably powerful dominion in a race planning for a long term win through insane death magic. Quite a focused/tight theme even if not a standard power approach.

cheers

Keir