Defeating Ulm

[Cainehill]

Well - keep in mind that elemental armor only gives 50% resistance, not 100% like it used to be. Myself, I kind of like Rime for thugs, and an awful lot of people like Jade armor.

[Soapyfrog]

Elemental armour is still damn fine.

bolstered by other 50% resistance items you can get 100% resistance and some excellent stat boosts... e.g. burning pearl, scutata volturnis plus a decent helm will put your prot up above 24, and you get a nice attack boost form the pearl, and a free armor-negating lightning attack every round. Add to that boots of quickness, and AMA, and a decent melee weapon (sword of swiftness, or frost brand would be my preference, but a blood thorn works too if you can get it... offsetting lower defence with life drain) and you should have also a decent defence and MR.

When elemental armour was 100% resistances, it was just gross!

Back to the issue of Ulmish troops, they have generally poor morale (except the knights) so fear items/spells work extremely well on them, and additionally their MR is surprisingly low.

At some point they can certainly be overwhelmed... I my current MP game as Ulm, I lost my national army in a standup fight with a marginally larger, and certainly much cheaper, Pangaean army made up of maenads, centaurs, and decent caster support.