[sergex]

the drawback to this strat btw, is basically if you are stuck next to a really agressive opponent with a fire-blessing army or if you get screwed with bad neighbor provinces or you can't get mercs early on due to poor mercs becoming available or if other people outbid you. If you can't get your blood economy working by turn 10 you are in big trouble if someone decides to take the provinces around you. You can easily become trapped and since you national troops are so weak you won't be able to field much offense without blood slaves or good mercs.

However, most MP opponents are docile or quick to make peace treaties (because usually the people that get mired in a drawn out battle early on leave themselves open to attack from another front and get destroyed easily) so you can usually overcome a bad start once you get 2 or 3 blood provinces coming in. There isn't much in the way of an anti-devil horde start that I know of. Once you get to the point that you have a bunch of Devil Commanders and lots of soul contracts pumping out Devils every turn you are in a position to win. It's just a matter of getting to that point, and playing smart diplomatically and placing castles as quickly as you can to discourage enemy attacks.