MoV usage

[Trumanator]

Does anyone have any tips or strategies regarding the use of Medallions of Vengeance? I just think that its a really cool piece of equipment.
I haven't actually tried anything yet, but OTOH it could be interesting as Pangaea to give a half dozen black harpies the MoVs and have them scripted to attack archers, nasty surprise for Caelum/Sauromatia/whoever uses lots of archers. Another thought is maybe giving them to those weird vampire dudes that Shinuyama get, so you could get some more bang for your buck when you use their aura. Plus I suppose if you really wanted to you could give them to vampire counts or whatever so you wouldn't lose anything but the gems.

Just brainstorming, hoping for some actually good tips.

[ano]

Experience says that Medallions are rather ineffective and generally not worth the cost. There's always some better strategy)

[Gandalf Parker]

They can be nice side items to certain units. Such as a scout, just in case he gets spotted. Particularly Pangaeas and Caelum scouts which can fly so they end up quickly near the enemy commanders. Kindof a kamikazi strategy for "in case you are caught".

Ive also tried it on some seducers when I find that Im failing often and ending up in one-on-one combats which I lose. It can help to keep the other equipment on the unit from falling into enemy hands.

I do wish they did more damage though.

[sum1lost]

I've used them with solid success as Pangaea's harpies and attack archers. Fire gems aren't good for a whole lot, IMO, and its a good a use as any. One tool is using them to attack near where an enemy has been putting his mages- with luck a few will explode, and 3 gems is a reasonable price to blow up a mage or two.

[HoneyBadger]

A terriffic way to use them, IMHO, is with EA Abyssia, combined with a Forge Lord Pretender. Don't necessarily bother committing your Pretender to making them (you can though), but do forge lots of dwarf hammers, and use them to forge the medallions. Put them on your flying demonbred commanders (they're non-Capital), and combine them with a Salamander army. The Sallys attack the front lines of the enemies-keeping them distracted-while the Demonbreds parashoot into the rear. With their double poison attacks, combined with the medallions, that gives you 2 damage types to really bring on the pain, especially since resistance to *both* Fire and Poison is one of the rarest combinations, since Fire and Nature paths tend to be inimical. It's an easy, cheap way to get 2 damage types on a single unit. It's not ideal, because you're already dishing out Fire damage, but it does force your enemy to think a lot more about resistance than just Fire.

[Ironhawk]

Don't demonbreds cost a lot? I havent played aby in a long time but iirc they were at the very least 100+ gold. Using an expensive unit like this doesnt seem like the best applciation of resources...

[Deadnature]

EA Abysia's Demonbred are capitol only, IIRC. Also they are quite expensive. But, on the other hand, assassins are sure to die eventually, so why not equip them with a "contingency item."

[JimMorrison]

Originally Posted by Deadnature

EA Abysia's Demonbred are capitol only, IIRC. Also they are quite expensive. But, on the other hand, assassins are sure to die eventually, so why not equip them with a "contingency item."

In a lot of cases though, cheap basic assassins could be good with one of these.

Though unfortunately, I'd say that losses of disposable assassins that I've seen have been more by fleeing than by death. And they aren't very gem effective if they run away without blowing up.

[Taqwus]

Originally Posted by JimMorrison

Though unfortunately, I'd say that losses of disposable assassins that I've seen have been more by fleeing than by death. And they aren't very gem effective if they run away without blowing up.

If they're fleeing on the first serious wound, perhaps one could 'prime' the assassin with a disease-causing item (and that item can go back in the lab the turn after application), so the first wound would make him explode rather than flee.

Harpy / Raptor bombers would seem to be an obvious use. I suppose they'd be marginally useful on an assassin-bait decoy, if the assassin were at least somewhat expensive.

[sum1lost]

Thing is, MoV is just as efficient as big battlefield spells for many nations. Fire gems don't have a huge number of battlefield spell uses (fire storm, flame storm, and living fire are the only 3 I can think of), all of which require high fire paths and very high research. Medallion of vengeance doesn't cost anymore, and while it will often deal less damage, does NOT commit a high level fire mage (which you might not even have, for most nations).