davanas

[Baalz]

Originally Posted by Peter Ebbesen

The obvious counter (in CBM) is massed Bells of Cleansing and casting the Demon Cleansing spell, but that solution counts on a battle lasting enough turns for the bells to chew through the Davana hordes - and at that time the 20 damage in AOE1 of the bells (changed in later CBMs) just wasn't enough because none of my opponents managed to amass more than 15-20 of them in one battle and most had much fewer than that.

It's usually a sucker's bet to try and kill regenerating giants in traditional ways (ie whacking on their hit points). You're usually better off attacking their fatigue. Skellispam with grip of winter/rigormortis or vinecritters/sleep cloud/sprites or stellar cascades/ghost grip or ice pebble staffs/dispossessed spirits or some more creative stuff. Davanas are good troops, but (fortunately) they're not a silver bullet. Being size 6 they don't chew through chaff all that fast - particularly if they're trying to storm a castle gate.

[Knai]

[quote=Baalz;776147It's usually a sucker's bet to try and kill regenerating giants in traditional ways (ie whacking on their hit points). You're usually better off attacking their fatigue. Skellispam with grip of winter/rigormortis or vinecritters/sleep cloud/sprites or stellar cascades/ghost grip or ice pebble staffs/dispossessed spirits or some more creative stuff. Davanas are good troops, but (fortunately) they're not a silver bullet. Being size 6 they don't chew through chaff all that fast - particularly if they're trying to storm a castle gate.[/QUOTE]

There is also a matter of instant kill spells, though the 18 MR makes that a bit difficult in this case. Still, there are plenty of regenerating giants for whom a Soul Slay or two is a wonderful option, though being able to switch them to your side is obviously better.

[Peter Ebbesen]

Originally Posted by Baalz

It's usually a sucker's bet to try and kill regenerating giants in traditional ways (ie whacking on their hit points). You're usually better off attacking their fatigue. Skellispam with grip of winter/rigormortis or vinecritters/sleep cloud/sprites or stellar cascades/ghost grip or ice pebble staffs/dispossessed spirits or some more creative stuff. Davanas are good troops, but (fortunately) they're not a silver bullet. Being size 6 they don't chew through chaff all that fast - particularly if they're trying to storm a castle gate.

You are right in general, of course, since most magical attacks outside blood magic deal low damage compared to a giant's hitpoint pool, but with a Bell of Cleansing in that version of CBM doing 20 damage to a single target (well AOE1, but that meant single target for Davanas) and 40 with Demon Cleansing active, it makes a very viable alternative due to the E4 component of my blessing and deploying relief on a regular basis, so long as you have tough enough or many enough troops to hold back the tide.

In general, my opponents in that game just didn't (EA Ulm, Formoria, C'tis), though it is fair to say that at least the C'tis player, who was last opponent standing, should have been able to do so with his host of Sauromancers.

Needless to say, fortress assaults were a nightmare and something generally not attempted without very significant magical backup.