[HoneyBadger]

The sprite looks really good!


The problem I see with getting this guy from the beginning is that, by the second round, you've already Prophetized him (not that you really need to, since he's Sacred, but it'll let him self-bless, give him access to all the other Holy spells--including one that grants retributive damage to any unit that actually hits him--spreads Dominion, and grants extra hp, att, def, mr) and slapped black plate on him, making him a perfect Rusher, or just a perfect Indie-killer. And you don't have to worry about getting him killed or wounded, since he's immortal.

Waiting 2 more rounds gives him a black shield and a black helmet, neither of which will encumber him, since he's undead, solving that pesky archer problem.

Speaking of Bless, I'd do everything I could to give this guy a Fire 9/Water 9/Astral 4 bless (he's got 3 attacks, afterall, his Att's a little low, and he's worth the MR boost), giving him atleast 4 attacks a round, at a base Att 18, and Def 22, and 18 MR, plus whatever the prophetizing gets you.

If that becomes too expensive (not sure why it would, since this guy's the starting army to end all starting armies, who needs Production, or income?), Fire 9 + Astral 4 will get the job done.

Fire vulnerability sounds like a problem, except it isn't, because you've quickly forged him a ring of fire resistance as soon as it becomes a problem, and he's got cold resistance and natural undead poison resistance. Shock resistance isn't so far behind, since there's a number of forgeable items for that, including and especially Copper Plate, which takes care of Shock, and does even more additional retributive damage.

With Fear +4 (+14, with the Horror Helmet he can forge by himself), Etherialness, Twist Fate, the Luck he'll soon be able to cast on himself, and the high Prot I just mentioned (20 or so), what, besides an SC Pretender, is going to have a chance of stopping this guy in the first year? How about the 2nd year, when he's got a real army behind him?

An army of Shades and Shade Beasts, Banes, Black Servants, and Longdeads, by the way, led by Mound Kings, with a host of Revenant researchers. With this guy to get your Deathmill rolling, forget about your National recruits. Undead don't cost any upkeep, don't eat, don't age, etc.

At the end of the 2nd year, having used him to ravage the countryside, and now using him to finely crush anyone left standing, you're going to be collecting plenty of Astral Pearls from all the site-searching you'll want him to do (infact, taking the time to do site-searching might be the only thing slowing him down. It's worth the time, since high Astral + high Death = win), and since this is one unit that's actually worth empowering, even Mind Hunt isn't going to reliably stop him.

And if you think he's nasty now, just wait till you hit Soul Vortex and Const 6.


It's not just that he's good in the early game, it's that he's very very good, and keeps getting exponentially better throughout the game, and practically by the month. With a good Pretender to back him up (a Cyclops, Blood Fountain, or Great Sage would do quite nicely), he might as well be a walking Nation all by himself. As a prophet, I'm not convinced he even needs his home Province, so long as you carefully monitor your Dominion.

I think having this guy around from round 1 would change not just this Nation's strategy, but the strategies of everyone he's going to fight. Pretenders become SC Killers, magic weapons, priests, and Dom Pushing are priorities, and nobody except the Witch King bothers with basic PD at all.