[Baalz]

Unsupported, manikin are not fabulous against regular troops, but with an early focus on alteration they rock something fierce. After the very early stages there's no reason to ever fight without mass protection and you should really have darkness for the big battles shortly. Those spells change the equation something fierce. You can often just overwhelm the bad guys 10:1 and not worry about it, but you don't need to count on it when you've got access to such fabulous force multipliers.