[magnate]

For a race with recruitable blood mages I'd be inclined to agree with you, but B4 on a pretender can be a great kick-start for a non-blood nation like Caelum or Arco.

I think I'd still rather have +2 strength on my weak sacreds (like flags or jaguar warriors) than 20% air shield, but I've not done extensive comparisons. It's reasonably easy to deal with archers in other ways, providing your scouting is good enough to anticipate meeting them. On bigger sacreds (vans, jotuns etc.) I'd definitely take the +2 str. I'm still not convinced about reinvigoration though - I'm currently playing as Vanheim and my vans/valks are not getting fatigue noticeably over 10 (ie. most fights last only 3-4 rounds).

Anyway, I wonder what the OP made of all this - did you stick with Neifelheim in the end, and if so with what pretender setup?

CC