[Keir Maxwell]

Originally posted by Jasper:
I tried something similar and didn't really get much mileage out of it.

A very different race to play I suspect despite some similarities.

The big difference between our races is the dominion - dom4 is just too low for my liking and unable to meaningfully use the Cu Sidhe so significantly slower than Dom6. Don't underestimate the extra speed the Cu Sidhe (1 resource!) give you if you can grab some decent gold producing provinces early. Also with dom 4 you will only be able to build 4 Sidhe a turn - thats not enough. I'm not sure 6 is enough in the long term.

I was actually very impressed with the kill speed of the quickened Sidhe and in my tests tried walking straight on into HC provinces early with decent success. I suspect it could be a critical mass for the job question. Obviously fireweapons etc is quicker at killing but producing so few each turn I want to try and keep them alive as much as possible. I'm not saying the Red Dragon is not a good idea its just doesn't fit my view of Sidhe.

Regarding arrow catching I deploy the army a bit back from the start point (varies according to range of missiles opponent has) with Axe on hold and attack in the middle and Sidhe on attack on one or both flank - both catches attackers better and keeps them away from the Axemen. I have found this approach satisfactory as long as I leave behind the big Xbow provinces!

140pt researchers who bring in 5 points are decent - ~30pts per research. And then what happens if you find sages? Even if you don't find sages you are sure to find some independent mages who research well and free up the Sidhe for war. The key is that you have a decent starting speed and the ongoing power that comes with the bless effect on the Sidhe without having taken a serious drain scale. This means good things in the long term compared to many races which arn't much faster earlier.

Did you research quickness for the Blue Dragon when you tried it Jasper? I haven't had an affliction yet with the Dragon and as its always operating with Sidhe, and often taking out archers etc at the back, its not a high risk pretender strategy - though there obviously is a risk.

The biggest thing I found with this race is that you really need to practice hard to get a good feel of what independants to attack when. Get this right and I believe this race could be competitive.

cheers

Keir