Lady of Fortune Caelum

[Blitz]

One of the few races I haven't played extensively is Caelum. It really didn't appeal to my playstyle (Arco/Marignion mainly). Lately, however I've come to appreciate the mobility advantage in the game, not to mention the strengths of a basic researcher with AAW skills. Add to that the free 120 points that come with cold 3, and I'm definately going to spend some time learning it more thoroughly.

Initial efforts with a rainbow seraph pretender were not spectacular. Mammoths weren't what I had hoped as meat shields. Trampling fliers dosen't seem to make sense, but I digress. The Temple guard, however was very impressive. A second game with a W9 Son of Neifel blessing was very satisfactory.

W9 bless seems to make the most sense for these guys. You get speed, defense, and double strikes on a unit that can get over 18 protection. The prefect meatshield for my Seraphs.

Now the problem. Which pretender to use? I knew that if I wanted W9 I should take a pretender with inherant Water abilities. I also wanted a little Nature magic so I could cast GOH and forge rejuvination items and such. Without communion, my hasted Serpahs weren't going to Last long. The obvious choice was the Lady of Fortune, a pretender I had never used before. No other pretender allowed an offordable W9 bless, Level 3 nature magic, and two other paths at level 3. It wasn't even close. So for what I wanted, this was my gal.

This is what I came up with:

Lady of Fortune
Domain 6
Heart of Winter OR Restless Worshipers
Cold +3
Turmoil -1
Castle

Fire 3
Water 9
Astral 3 (Yes I know, I'll empower her with clams)
Nature 3

Which leaves me with a grand total of -40 points. Which begs the question: Where to get that 40 points from?

Polls are annoying, so I won't post one, but here are your choices

(a) Misfortune -1 (Rely on our pretender for luck)
(b) Turmoil -2 (Who needs money, we're using 90% bless troops anyway)
(c) Ditch Heart of Winter or Restless Worshippers
(d) Death -1 (By the time I feel it, gems not gold buys troops)

The other options aren't really feasible. I can't downgrade the castle or take sloth because my troops are so resource-heavy. Drain really hurts hasted casters, and we're killing with magic. I need to tip a scale somewhere, but I can't decide where.