[Chris_Byler]

You can already upgrade your troops with Strength of Giants, Legions of Steel, Weapons of Sharpness, etc... since that's a major strength of earth magic, I think it would be problematic to make it available to everyone.

And there are already too many ways to get through armor - that's why the armored nations are weak, they pay four times over in increased resources (often needing productivity), higher encumbrance and lower defense skill and mobility for armor that then only protects them against some attacks. What we need are easier ways to buff resistance against the common AN attacks like lightning, poison and shadow blast, not even more ways to kill Ulm.

It *would* be appropriate for blunt weapons (including slings, which could really use the help) to do a small amount of AN stun damage per hit whether or not they do any HP damage through armor/shields, but I'd be concerned that the effect of such a change by itself would be to further weaken the effectiveness of armored troops.