[sector24]

Well I don't think there will be any new guides until the post editing issue is reconsidered, but I can give you a few tips.

Pretender:
Make sure you pick a poison immune pretender so you don't accidently die to your own miasma. Another option is an undead pretender who gets poisoned but doesn't suffer the afflictions, or a very high HP pretender like the Manticore. You'll get afflictions, but since the Manticore flies and basically kills everything in one hit it's not going to affect it as much.

Scales:
High dominion is important, you earn more gold based on dominion.
Order 3 - More money = more Marshmasters
Sloth 3 - Your troops are not powerful, so just recruit as many sloth 3 allows, but rely on your mages
Heat 2 - This helps offset an opponent with a cold 3 dominion, which really ruins your day. Nations like MA Jotunheim will bombard you with Wolven Winter and having an existing heat scale will make it a lot more palatable.

Strategy:
Your unshielded warriors have explosive offense, and your shielded troops are decent defenders but don't expect to carve out a huge empire with them. C'tis' early game strength is summoning hordes of skeletons with their mages. When a suitable counter comes up, you should have shadow blast for important battles. It costs a death gem, but it is an amazing spell and can easily turn the tide of an important battle.

I know this is extremely abbreviated, but it should give you an idea of what to shoot for. It sounds like you're already in the middle of the game, field some marshmasters with a block of national troops to suck up damage. Summon skeletons and use battlefield magic to kill the lion's share of the troops. You may want to mix in some Bane Lord thugs if appropriate. Your end game goal is Tartarians, although I don't know how good they are with the shattered soul update. I'm sure other posters can add more information. Good luck!