[Wauthan]

I agree with Pocus on this one. It's all about how you deploy the vestals. These units got very little going for them besides the low cost and defence so water9 will play on their strength.

What you need to do is to deploy them in smaller Groups with a mage in the midst. Set the mage to cast protective spells like protection and luck while the vestals are on "hold and attack". They won't be able to take down anything but they will fend off the enemy while your mages pelter them with spells.

Plain Pythium is not such a good choice for a dual bless strategy though. You would be better off with taking a smaller amount of magic and concentrate on economy boosting scales. You got the best mages in the game after all so you might as well focus on them.

Serpent cult pythium however is a very different kind of baked potato.