[Valerius]

Good point. And Caelum has easy access to Call of the Winds, which gives a nice boost to defense at an affordable price. Of course if he has no mages left that won't do him any good.

This also illustrates the difference between playing to the end and going AI early. Instead of the AI suiciding its forces by trying to break a siege, a player can force their attacker to expend considerable resources to breach the walls and take the fort. In the meantime they can launch attacks against lightly defended provinces if they still have any kind of raiding potential.