[Maltrease]

Here is a tactic I like to use with ME - Bandar Log, but it can work with other astral nations as well.

Earth 9 blessing for reinvigoration bless and also helps turn White Ones into a powerful force for early indy expansion and later meat shield duties.

Recruit a Rishi or Guru every turn and research to Thaum 2 for mind burn, add 2 or 3 to your expansion force to help with knights and tougher indies.

Now play however, but eventually you will want to hit.
Conj 3 - Summon Earth Power
Cons 4 - Eye of the Void and Spell Focus
Thaum 6 - Enslave Mind

1 out of 4 Rishi will have astral 4.

Forge a hammer and make 4 void eyes (and 4 spell focuses if you want).

Equip each Rishi with an Eye of the Void and optional spell focus. Include one Rishi with a random Earth pick.

Make an army of 4 Guru and 4 Rishi.
Guru scripted to slave, Rishi scripted to Master, Enslave Mind x4. With the earth Rishi Master, Summon Earth, Enslave mind x3.

Add a decent conventional army made up of White Ones and some Tiger riders and watch the fun!

Each enslave mind is with +4 penetration (2 from eye, 1 from spell focus and 1 from S6 casting S4 spell). Enslave Mind is range 100, precision 100.

Your slaves are getting +8 reinvigoration (+4 earth bless, +4 earth power. This goes up to +13 once they are over 100 fatigue.

Enslaved enemies immediately join your side in the battle… and anyone alive at the end joins you permanently.
It is awesome watching your army grow after each battle.

Cost
12 Astral for 4 Void Eyes
12 Astral for 4 spell penetrations
1120 Gold for 4 Rishi
640 Gold for 4 Guru


It also scales nicely.
Say 16 Yogi (S1 80 gold mage) scripted to slave.
8 Rishi setup as above, but with starshine caps
1 person with Banner of the northern star
Now rishi is at (S10) casting enslave mind at +6 penetration. This puts even MR18 units in easy grasp. Compare this to “Master Enslave” which is at -4 I think?

Add a staff of storms to protect from flyers, invulnerability and other buffs to protect slaves, air mage to protect from lighting, etc...

This works great against the AI, not sure how well vs. a human. Probably the smaller less costly groups would be more useful combined with other tactics.