Astral and Fire and Blood Oh My!

[Spacepain]

Well, I've become a pretty good Ulm player they're very straight forward. Very little magic is really invovlved. Now, I've been looking at other nations that have pretty good heavy infantry like Pythium, Arco, and Marignon, but a much stronger affliation at magic... and I'm swamped. I'd have more success digging a hole through the middle of the Earth with my toenails than I'm having with these nations...

So, what are the do's and don'ts of Pretenders, domain, and magic of the nations with the heavier infantry and decent magic?

I'm going to leave ranting about blood magic to its whole own post...