Just a few more turns, mommy... Ah well, it had to come sometime
Will you honor our NAP, though?
The Soulstone is soo beautiful 'cause it bends and breaks the usual battlefield summon limitations! Imagine it combined with a Haunted Forest... It can be countered rather easily though, with an SC or a battlefield-wide killspell. Even some lucky fliers could do the trick.
As to the eternal question, 'why build an army at all?' I think armies can be used in the early game. As evidenced by how easily you and Ulm have crushed your enemies beneath your heels. Even now the only thing I can do is try to kill off enough of your armies to get my bearings and mount a proper counter-attack! I think your choice of castle hampers you too much, though.
The game concept sure works great! It's so much more dynamic and since the amounts of gold netted are so huge at the beginning viable national armies can be built and used. I took a different approach, though, betting on an early game monster SC and trusting that I can gain magical supremacy since early game powerhouses like Pan and Ulm will kill off the other fast researching nations. Cynical, I know.