I think we are playing the version which has the mages at the special sites (The 'Recruity' gates version).
I think the game will be quite unusual as it is difficult to 'camp' at the gates as they have no population (someone said) and they link everyones empires so are very vulnerable. Usually you have fairly well defined borders but you won't be able to in this game as people will be able to move armies in to your heartlands via the gates.
I am not sure the gate bonuses will be crucial. Indie mages are nice and in this game everyone can diversify by recruiting from the gate sites. But they are rarely as good as your national mages. I don't know what has been placed at each site so this may not be correct although I can't think of an indie mage that is better than a top line national mage?? So apart from helping diversity they shouldn't decide the game. Plus everyone will be able to get in to death by recruiting at the death gate so everyone can go down that path in any case.
A few bags of wine/ cauldrens of broth/ Summer Swords will allow any army in to a gate safely anyway. But they will be hard to hold due to the number of directions enemies can come from.
Although we are up to 8 that is still only a few for a map this size, but the gates should let us meet each other much sooner. It should be an interesting and unusual game
