[Saxon]

Over the weekend, I played a SP game as EA Vanheim, as it seemed the easiest way to make sure I did not have to face them in the end game, yet again. Tried out the water/fire bless and was astounded. They are, quite simply, hugely powerful. I know I am repeating my earlier arguments in the thread, but having played them, it is stunning. I had fun and enjoyed the mages with E3 and a shot at E4 on a random. Throw on some boots of earth and that earth booster spell and you have an E5 or E6 mage. Blade Wind forever! I did not touch the blood magic and stopped research altogether once I realized the power of Blade Wind forever. I did not even bother attacking other nations protection, but that would have boosted the effect even more. No need to buff troops, even though those spells are available in the Earth school. I have not explored this nation much, but if it has the hidden gems like most other races, there is more strength in it yet.

The only problem I ever faced was a batch of blessed flaggelents! I had no archers, and this was before Blade Wind, so I lost some of my troops killing them hand to hand. I had considered recruiting indy archers on the therory that they would be very safe behind my powerful infantry, but couldn't be bothered, there was no need!

Sure, this was single player and sure, Blade Wind is not as valuable in MP (though I would be interested to see a team of E mages casting destruction and blade wind), but this nation is damn strong. Too damn strong.