Jotunheim

[Orlanth]

You are right on focusing on the strong, bless-effect troops. If you crank out enough Herses early in the game many will get into the Hall of Fame and become quite legendary over time. At first I was using Water 9 for the defense and quickness, but now I think a Great Mother with Earth 4 Nature 9 really maximizes the units' strengths. Those giants have the hitpoints to get their money's worth from regeneration (especially if they're getting hacked up while berserk and reinvigoration can allow you to get away with Black Steel armor on the commanders (good thing it's one-size-fits-all..) If you can afford it, Earth 9 Nature 9 would be even better and might make those Woodsmen useful for a change. NJ's work great as a prophet - that mass-bless spell is indispensable when you're hauling around umpteen Niefel Giants and Herses. And if you're in a strong dominion he can be a great fighter (with Holy Avenger to boot).

I always get stuck though with Jotun magic - never know what to aim for, and the mages are so expensive (and poor searchers) that I end up falling behind. Should I focus on Blood, or what? And has anyone successfully pulled off an Illwinter? I'm curious to know do the Rimtursar actually ever arrive, or is it just there for the cold and unrest?

[Orlanth]

And another thing - if you can get them, Boots of the Behemoth are fantastic for your heroes!

[Saber Cherry]

Originally posted by Orlanth:
And another thing - if you can get them, Boots of the Behemoth are fantastic for your heroes!

That's true. But only for Jotunheim. I used to put BoB on Werewolves (size 3), and recently I played Pangaea to try out their War Minotaurs...

...and I think both are nearly worthless!! Trample on size 3 units is just no good. That's 6 ap damage (strength not added), and a size 3 trampler seems to only trample 1 square per turn, but gets a lot of fatigue for it.

Size 4 (like Jotuns), though, is much, much better... 8 ap damage on twice as many units.

[Truper]

I always get stuck though with Jotun magic - never know what to aim for, and the mages are so expensive (and poor searchers) that I end up falling behind. Should I focus on Blood, or what?

What I like to do is focus on construction, all the way to level 4. This gets me several great toys for Jotunheim. First, Skull Mentors. I prefer the Iron Woods theme to Neifelheim, and once I can forge Skull Mentors, the cheap Vaetti Hags suddenly become research powerhouses. In fact, I often take drain with Jotun. Once you have the Mentors, you don't notice the research hit, and Jotun doesn't rely on battlefield magic for initial expansion. Second - Wraith Swords. The power of these in the hands of a giant is obvious. Now forging both these things requires death gems, so I horde them until I can spend them on the goodies above.

Next on the program for me is conjuration 2, for Dark Knowledge. I want more death gems so I can make still more mentors, and more swords, and Dark Knowledge is the fastest way to find death sites.

After that... well after that, what I go for will depend alot on the situation. Often more conjuration, to be able to spend nature gems on something like Pride of Lions. Sometimes Blood, if I feel like I have time on my side. I am usually aiming for Ice Devils, and those are a serious investment.

As a tactical tip, try using Herses almost as you would use cavalry - I've had good success with putting 2 - 3 of them way to the side with orders to hold a turn, attack rearmost. They do tend to get into the Hall of Fame, and the one who gets the most interesting HoF bonus gets that 1st Wraith Sword

[Niefelson]

[quote]Originally posted by Truper:

As a tactical tip, try using Herses almost as you would use cavalry - I've had good success with putting 2 - 3 of them way to the side with orders to hold a turn, attack rearmost. They do tend to get into the Hall of Fame, and the one who gets the most interesting HoF bonus gets that 1st Wraith Sword

Heh Heh... I wonder if they could design the game so that we have an interface where we can have a Executive Meeting with all the leaders before they go to war so that we can "incentify" them with Wraith Swords!!!

[Endoperez]

I think the scout is cheaper, stealthy but has worse equipment than Herse. BUT scouts have better stats than Herses... So, if you are putting equipment and remember to not sneak with them, they are better. I'm not sure about the stats part, but I recall something like that when I tried to find a use for them...

[Keir Maxwell]

For Niefel I have used Earth Mother nature9 earth9.

Do a search for "Niefel" or "Niefelheim" for some discussion on this - can't remember the name of the thread.

You can get some very impressive results using Niefel Giants and Herses as your blessed monstrosities but there is not much you can do facing paralysis so you need to develop another string to your bow for figthing astral races. Undead perhaps? I haven't tried the race since the full game came out.

Cheers

Keir