[triqui]

If you want it to be fighting from turn 1, in vanilla, an awake Cyclops with high earth is ussually enough.
Prince of Death, Moloch, Gorgon are good options too, but those need Dom9 for awe (cyclops will also benefit from it, but it's not "mandatory")

Probably the safest route is making them to research for a couple of turns, until they learn some defensive spell (mistform, ironskin, astral shield, etc), then go to hunt indies. Ghost King is decent for this.

A Titan with Mist Form and some armour should take most indies with no problems.