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moderation said:
Heh, thanks everyone for the informative and amusing input.  hat is it about Ulm that makes it a good "newbie nation." Is it the limited options, or maybe the reduced amount of micromanagement needed?
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Both.
Ulm is a magic-hating nation in a game with 600+ spells.
Their description sounds as if they'd make a good rush nation... but they don't. And past early game, their weaknesses become even more exposed. Which brings me to another point: it's very, very hard to balance something like Ulm. Without strong magic, they can't possibly have strong endgame. If you just buff their units, you just make them into a rush nation, and do nothing to adress their mid-late weakness.
Items are just not as important or versatile as spells. Magic items can be divided into few categories:
thug/SC equipment
magic boosters
ranged weapons (situational, and not very effective)
everything else.
Magic boosters and thugs/SC's win games. Ulm has little magic to boost, and no efficient thug/SC chasis. This leaves ranged weapons and various misc items. Not something you can build a strategy around. You could find some very specific good items, but depending on few such items makes you much more predictable (=vulnerable) than strong combat magic or SC's.
There are basically no magic items for boosting armies. I think this is a big deal for Ulm, which thematically should depend on steel. Only army-boosting items I can think of boost morale and increase leadership. Oh, and there's the staff of storms. They do nothing about resistances, darkness (no items to counter darkness ? WTF ?), toughness, damage potential. To boost regular armies, you have to rely on combat magic.
Suggestion to any Kristoffers who might be reading this post: Ulm would really like some national forgable items that boost regular armies in various ways, most notably resistances. This would make regular Ulm units better without making them a primitive rush nation.
I've seen an argument that Black Lords can make cost-effective thugs due to their low cost and Ulm's magic item discount. Using 4 black lords instead of 1 'regular' thug etc. This is totally backwards thinking. If you need 4 equipped black lords
just to break even, Ulm's forge bonus is basically worthless (for black lords) because it's
not an advantage. Another way of saying it is that Black Lords suck so much you need 25% forge bonus to break even with them.