A guide to buffing

[The Panther]

Truper said:
If you'd prefer a less expensive and somewhat quicker-out-of-the-gate pretender, we can take a look at the Astral Wyrm QM mentioned: one of my favorite pretenders. Play most any nation. Slap a few astral on your Wyrm. I like 3. Research to Alteration 1. Position him fairly close to the front of the battle board, have him cast Personal Luck, and attack closest. This works against most anything except heavy cavalry or large numbers of crossbows. The Wyrm is a nice choice for this sort of pretender since he has regeneration, which reduces the chances of afflictions, and has 2 attacks per turn without needing quickness - and therefore without needing water magic. His attacks do a lot of damage since he has great strength, and are also very poisonous. Once you're out conquering, begin Researching enchantment. When you hit 2, you can add Astral Weapon to his script, and when you hit 3, add Astral Shield.

Hey! Did you steal this from me?

I must agree that the astral wyrm is extremely powerful, most especially with Broken Empire Ermor (who has the national spell 'Body Etheral' which gives mundane troops only a 25% chance of actually hitting your wyrm). My son discovered this in the first King of the Hill battle. You do not need anything else to use this beast attacking blind on Turn 1 against 9 level indies! For other nations, the alteration 1 research and personal luck is necessary against 9 level indies.

I would only quibble with one thing here, you need to go to Astral 4 on your wyrm if at all possible, for this allows your sacred mages to get an additional point of magic resistance when blessed. It also helps a lot with the dueling later on.