[RonD]

Sidhe Lords make much better thugs, compared to the Champions. With chain of displacement (and later, jade armor), their A2 lets you script Mistform, attack. With a weapon chosen for the job, they are excellent, cost efficient, and recruitable everywhere. In one MP game I was fighting Niefelheim, who had gone for Jarl SCs. One or 2 Lords with 2 fire brands backed up by a Lord scripted attack 1 turn, Vine Arrow x 4 chewed up Jarls as long as they were single or in pairs. And if you can make Niefel group his Jarls into big bunches you've won. For masses of chaff, equip a frost brand + whatever shield you can make.

For the capital-only mages, I much prefer the Sorceress to the Ri. Stick a few sorceresses in the back, and surround them with Sidhe Champions and unequipped Lords. Script the support mages 5x Soothing Song - the Sorceresses can spam Thunderstrike. Very, very hard to counter in the early mid-game.

For troops, I prefer the non-sacred Sidhe warriors. The blessable ones are nice, I'm sure, but they cost exactly twice as much. I don't think they are twice as effective.

Using non-bless troops gives you a lot more flexibility in pretender design.