[OG_Gleep]

Here's my question about F9 though. Even though the bless is awesome, which from what I have read it is, don't you put a lot of chips in one hand and hope that it comes out okay?

After your pretender is done romping, which I assume there comes a point where you can't continue to have him in the front line up, aren't you SOL with Fire?

Also, with this race, your only lvl 4 priest is going to be your prophet, so essentially the only way to guarentee the right troops get blessed is with him.

Fire has to be the worst school in the summons department, and one of the worst for smithing. The best is going to be king of elemental fire, which is great, but you won't get access to any other schools.

Guess the question is, is Fire 9 worth everything you give up, like say going for Nature/Death 4 Water 2. With that build you can summon a whole lot of stuff, and get death high enough to summon all the neat little things they bring to the table.

Is the strategy with Fire 9 to have one big romping army, as your main hammer, and Auxillary armies to hold the territory you gain?

Arch - Wouldn't those scales be prohibitive of Van though? Death seems to hurt you badly in the long run, as population is the key to taxes? Sloth also takes a toll on taxes. Even though the big guns aren't key to the strategy, and I would assume it would be important to get indies to supplement your forces, which most are heavy on gold as well?

Edit: Just wanted to say thanks for the replies, all 3 have made me adjust my thinking and have helped a great deal trying to sort out what I'm going to do.

PS. I have noticed a lot of comments like yours PDF. Very different feedback from a lot of people concerning Vans and Valks. Is there a reason for this? Some people have had terrible results with both, some with one or the other, and many swear by them. Do they need to be deployed/ordered/blessed/supported in a specific way for them to be effective?