[Avari]

Yeah, I've learned a lot from the last few turns, for example that normal troops in general, and Ulm's heavy infantry in particular, are indeed quite worthless at this stage of the game :D Apparently when faced with a few dozen water elementals (thanks Caelum ;) ) and Grip of Winter for good measure, the only thing they can do is keel over and die. Losing that number of mages would make me very queasy if not for the fact that Ulm's basic smiths are not only cheap and numberless but also not very effective. Of course it could also very well be that I just have no idea how to use them effectively.

I have also learned that sometimes the random number generator is your friend after all, with my sideshow of a few Mind Hunts sniping two Water Queens (if I'm not mistaken) on the first turn of the war :) Naturally all subsequent Mind Hunts have been completely useless.

My gem lead is substantial and I have a few tricks up my sleeve, but so far I've been pretty much stumbling ahead so we shall see. In any case I hope this will be an excellent learning experience and as fun as possible for both of us :)