I think mid-era Agartha blows. No archers, no randoms, no good mages, all your mages are old, and the only unit in your entire army that can bust even medium armor is a capitol-only sacred troop with a protection of 12.
Let's see... they get their asses handed to them by:
- Archers.
- Heavy Armor
- Battle Magic
And there's no real way around that for a really long time. When they finally do get their national spells, it pretty much boils down to making living statues and trundling slowly forward. In short, these guys are a poor substitute for
Ulm. Gah.
So what do they need? They need the ability to do something in combat with an Earth Reader, because that's what they are supposed to use. That means that they need some decent combat effects for 1 Earth and 1 Holy.
How about a copyspell of Arrow Fend or Summon Storm for path requirements 1 Earth, 1 Holy? It would allow them to put Earth Gems on their peoples and reduce the impact of their nation's crippling archery shortage.
And how about a national version of Weapons of Sharpness that was much smaller in area and available with less research and Earth magic? That would let their damnably useless shortsword infantry fight enemies in chainmail and accomplish anything at the same time.
With those two spells under their belt, I could see the Agarthans doing something - rather than just bending over and bracing themselves every time Man showed up. That's the worst part about this. It's not that they are stuck against some weird troop type available to only one faction or another - no. They are a middle era nation with no good answer to Knights or Bowmen. That's lame.
-Frank