Helheim - feedback required

[Blitz]

Seeking a new challenge, I've decided to try my hand at Vanheim. Since I'm a fan of death magic, the Helheim theme seems a good place to start. Like all themes, Helheim has it's strengths and weaknesses. They get the fabulous Hangadrott, who seems worth every penny of his 400 gold pricetag. They get some interesting earth/death dwarves, who can be easily pumped up to 3/3 power by construction 2. Their Valkries are supposedly stronger, but I can't see any difference. Unlike Midgaard, they can recruit their Vans anywhere. They lose the excellent EEE? dwarf, as well as third-rank air power.

Obviously Helheim has some significant weaknesses. Their Cheapest random mage costs 400 gold. This severely limits site searching and forging. Thus they have no easy access to Fire, Astral, Nature, or Water magic, which means they are completely at the mercy of potentialy crippling globals like burden of time or wrath of god. They have no cheap researcher or level 3 priest, and their infantry isn't spectacular.

I knew I wanted to cover the magical weaknesses on my pretender, preferably the Allfather. I find it very hard to play without astral magic, especially against the computer. For some reason the AI dosen't seem to care about bad enchantments and will let them sit there destroying their troops until you find a way to deal with it. With death magic summons and the Van SC's, I knew I would need affliction removal. I also had to have 3 air, as I would need it to get staff of storms and arrow fend. I wanted to do all this without crippling scales, preferably on a SC chassis. Frankly there was no way to do it on the Allfather with his 30 point paths and high pricetag. Instead, I turned to my favorite rainbow SC, the Ghost King.

Ghost King (520 points)
6 Dominion
Fortress
3A
2W
3E
4S
4D
4N
+1 order
-1 cold (free)
-1 death (forced)
-1 luck

Without totally killing my scales, I think I came up with a very good jack-of-all trades pretender. I could cast tier 5 rituals in 4 paths with only construction 4 items (air - helm & bag, Death - staff, Nature - mace, Astral - coin), and with a little work, even in Earth (boots and blood stone). I could site search all but fire and blood... plus a real nice SC. The blessing won't be the greatest, but you can't have everything. Obviously using him efficiently will be the key to winning.

Turn 1
Researching: Alteration 1
Recruited: Vanjarl, 4 Einheres

I really like the Einheres. I've tried mixing spears, swords, and berserkers evenly, but the Einheres are much faster than the Hirdmen, and get killed quickly when the first wave gets spread out. Unlike most shieldless troops, they don't suffer too badly against bows, as this triggers their berserk. The plan is to get a horde of them and watch the carnage.


Turn 2
Researching: Alteration 2
Recruited: 5 Einheres

As we need numbers to make our Einheres effective, I don't recruit a mage yet. Vanjarl becomes prophet.


Turn 3
Researching: Alteration 2
Recruited: Dwarf, 3 Einheres

My pretender, prophet, and all troops head for the nearest farmland. My starting Vanherse will serve me better in the lab for now.


Turn 4
Researching: Alteration 2
Recruited: Herse, 3 Einheres

Since I'm going to leave my dwarf and Vanherse in the lab, I need someone to ferry troops to the main group. I don't like recruiting a melee commander this early, but it really can't be helped.


Turn 5
Researching: Alteration 3
Recruited: Dwarf, 2 Einheres

With 13 Einheres in the main group now, I split the javlineers to the flanks and set to fire archers. This should cut down on friendly fire. My GK could probably solo at this point, but I don't think it's worth the risk, so I keep him with the main force. The GK and prophet hit the next indy bordering my capitol. I will keep it conservative and leave pretender and prophet together until Alteration 3.


Turn 6
Researching: Alteration 3
Recruited: Dwarf, 5 Einheres

GK and prophet search second indy province. Herse continues ferrying troops to the main group.


Turn 7
Researching: Alteration 3
Recruited: Dwarf, 2 Einheres

I'm now at at respectable 27rp/turn with my 4 dwarves and starting Vanjarl in the lab. Gk and prophet attack the third and final border province.


Turn 8
Researching: Construction 1
Recruited: 6 Einheres

I've reached Alteration 3, and my GK will now expand on his own. I send a dwarf over to help the prophet search his new provinces. The dwarf and Vanjarl will cover death, air, and earth sites, which are my priorities. Gk and prophet search the third indy province. I'm up to 30 Einheres, and the army will be fine without my SC (no casualties thus far on level 6 indies).


Turn 9
Researching: Construction 2
Recruited: Dwarf, 2 Einheres

GK and Prophet/Dwarf Groups both attack seperate indies. I recruit another dwarf, keeping me at 4 total in the lab.


Turn 10
Researching: Construction 2
Recruited: Nothing

It's time to start saving for a Hangadrott. Both Groups search their respective provinces.


Turn 11
Researching: Construction 3
Recruited: Hangadrott, 2 Einheres

My army and SC continue clearing indy provinces, and I start my next force. I still can't afford to start Vans, so I continue with infantries for the time being. As most of my money is being spent on expensive mages and troops, I can't really afford more researchers... so I start making quills with my Vanherse. The new Hangadrott will spend some time in the lab waiting for his army to be recruited.


Turn 12
Researching: Construction 3
Recruited: Vanjarl, 4 Einheres

Now it's time to start bloodhunting. I'll probably use 2 Vanjarls for a while and hope for indy luck. I'm not planning heavy blood magic, so even 2 Vanjarls should be able to harvest enough blood slaves to support one summoner.


After that, strategy was dictated my gem income and opponent's moves for the most part. I ended up swimming in death gems and still hadn't found any sages, so at Construction 4 I took a turn and churned out 4 Skull Mentors. That boosted my researching to a surprising 76rp/t with only 4 dwarves. I used my starting Vanherse to forge a variety of air-based items for my leaders. I'm pretty happy with the way the game is going... at turn 25 I've got Pythium on the ropes and I managed to find Enchantresses, which will let me forge Jade Armor. My GK managed to take out 4 hydras, a situation I'm not sure the supposedly superior Allfather would have managed well. While the game is going well, I'm sure the opening could be refined some.

Questions for experienced Vanheim players:

1) How do you use Einheres? Do you mass them as I did, use them as flankers, or mix them with Hirdmen? If you prefer Hirdmen, do you require a larger production bonus to maintain production and expansion?

2) When do you start producing Vans, when not using a bless strategy?

3) How do you manage the slow teching problem? Do you think 40 death gems is a reasonable price to pay for 36 rp/turn early in the game? Was shooting for Construction 4 and skull mentor a good plan to save on researcher costs?

4) When do you start blood hunting? How much hunting?

5) Am I wrong to use staff of storms and storm demons instead of Valkries? Am I better off using storm-powered Vanherses with mistform or... no storm, valkries, and the more expensive Vanjarls?

6) Do you think I skimped on scales? If so, what solutions for global enchantments and afflictions can you provide with a less-expensive avatar?

7) Do skinshifters suck *** as much as I think they do? Can you take sloth 3/Order 3 and rely on them as heavy infantry? Aren't I better off with 1 Van than 2 Skinshifters on the flanks?

Looking forward to feedback.