1 vs 1 MA mictlan

[LDiCesare]

Hi. F9 N4 B4 is really weak for Mictlan.
You have 2 main sacred units: Jaguar and eagle warriors. Jags are cap only. Eagle warriors are GREAT. If you have only 1 fort, namely your capital, you should probably produce some of them rather than only jags.
Eagle warriors fly and should slaughter enemy crossbowmen with ease. Divine blessing + attack archers.

Now this: dom10, only jaguars, no new forts, B8F9W9
Dom10 yes. Only jaguars no. No new forts: You certainly can use 1 fort with a temple. B8F9W9: Why?
You want an army of jaguar warriors + eagle warriors + eagle warriors + chaff (slingers, slaves, whatever as long as they catch a few arrows/bolts instead of your sacreds).
What do you want Blood for? + Strength? That's rather useless. F9 already deals additional damage, you don't need that unless you're facing Abysia, in which case F9 is overkill as you only use the +att.
W9: Great for jaguars to reach enemies faster, and dodge in melee. Unfortunately, they'll be turned into pincushions by crossbowmen before you can use them.
I'd rather go F9S9 with an additional N4 or E4 if you can spare the points. N4 is to reduce the number of afflicted jaguars, and E4 to provide reinvig to your casters. S9 saves your eagle warriors once, making them much more resilient.
Slaves can make nice arrow decoys. They cost nothing, die immediately, but can distract the first bolts easily. Particularly considering the crossbow shoots only every other turn, removing the first volley with worthless free chaff is interesting.

In terms of research, you have N2+ with priests and nahualli. This means Wooden Warriors will become available at some point, and this can help your troops a bit. Thaumaturgy can also be useful as you've got lots of astral mages ready for communion. Body ethereal by a few nahualli (or moon priests) can also help boost your eagle warriors on hold+attack rearmost.

[rdonj]

Originally Posted by LDiCesare

What do you want Blood for? + Strength? That's rather useless. F9 already deals additional damage, you don't need that unless you're facing Abysia, in which case F9 is overkill as you only use the +att.

Just for the record, there are definitely cases where the b8 bless is better for damage than f9. For example, e9 knights of the chalice would be more or less immune to the 6ap damage that f9 gives you. 6ap damage is more or less only useful on things with up to maybe 16 prot. Anything higher than that and the b8 is easily better. The +attack from fire is always useful though.

Anyway, there seems plenty of good advice in this thread, and I think next time you fight a duel against marignon, you'll do much better. Just remember if you're fighting a duel and you have good sacreds, to tailor them to the enemy you're fighting. There's no reason not to!