[MaxWilson]

I tried the Iron Warrior + Umbral counter at home. It worked just dandy, up to a point. I used 1 Attendant of the Dead and had him hold for five rounds, then attack large monsters. 13 umbrals were his guards. 4 Ktonian necromancers cast Summon Earthpower, Iron Warriors x4, and all of the umbrals got nicely covered. The hydras could hardly scratch the umbrals, although the Attendant died pretty quick (doesn't matter, he was just a mechanism for holding umbrals in place long enough to be buffed). And then... all the umbrals ran away, and my necromancers died.

Turns out hydras have Fear +0. Ah, well. Scratch one possible counter.

-Max

Edit: by the way, when I replayed the battle after modding umbral morale up to 99, they wiped the floor with the hydras. 40 dead hydras, no dead umbrals, although most of the umbrals had picked up a couple of afflictions. It's the fear, and nothing else, which saved the hydras.