I enjoyed it too
Even though I never managed to take an enemy castle...
Thanks very much to everyone who participated, and Ironhawk for hosting! If you wish to share your thoughts on which unit(s) you found extremely (or overly) effective, and which units were very (or overly) weak, I would greatly appreciate that. Some things have already changed since v7.1 of the mod, like Longbows going back to non-AP, Mauls being slightly weakened, and White Centaurs being nerfed. But any comments on units (or unit classes) that stood out for any reason would be very useful.
Personally, I found myself fielding large numbers of Jotun Spearmen (with occasional Hirdmen, as money permitted), Vaetti Hags, Longbowmen, 3g Militia, and a few dozen Vaettir for stealth armies. My national mages (other than Vaetti Hags, of which all 4 types are extremely useful) were just bad. Terrible. I found no use for them other than casting Rain on Abysians. The only Priests I built, other than my prophet, were independants. Which, overall, paints a picture of a Jotunheim still lacking in variety. I think the mages need to be cheaper or stronger, and there has to be a good incentive to buy Huskarls who cost more than normal infantry, but have lower protection, and thus lower survivability... Even at 16 gold and +1 morale, I still did not want to buy Jotun Militia (and even high province defence fell fast to any opposition), largely due to food issues. And I still found Jotun Axes to be worse than Jotun Spears, in general.
Most interestingly... I did not seem to have a single unit capable of hurting a Vampire Queen, even one in strong hostile dominion. I found this out several times. And medium-sized armies of Jotun Spearmen, backed by Fanatacism and Devils, were unable to push back an attacking Red Dragon. Hirdmen would have worked much better, so that may have been my fault... but WOW, dragons are tough in Zen's mod!
Once I gained access to Illithids (via The Crater), I realized (IMO, of course) they were a better use of my money than anything else - mages, dirt-cheap militia, powerful Jotun units, maul barbarians, longbowmen, and so forth. And I spent ALL my money recruiting them. Incidentally, they seem starvation-resistant...