How do you fight the Niefel giants?

[Nikelaos]

Originally Posted by Nikelaos

hellhirdlings and van infantry aren't the way to go.

send in some valkyries and a commander(there are a few elidgable choices) with a fire bless, split you're valkyries into several squads(maybe two or 3), script for each squad to attack at a different time so as to give the giants some time to clear some space adjacent to them so the next squad can hit them strraight away instead of waiting behind their buddies in the giants cold aura getting over fatigued.

the fire bless is what will give you're valkiries what they need to pack the punch to take the giants down and you should have you're commander casting buffs on the squads holding with him before they go out to kill giants, or just have you're commander casting evocation spells .

usually though you will want to just raid his undefended provinces with valkiries, they can fly and have glamour making them the perfect raiders, they are also pretty good fighters so can be used if you need to attack via the above strategy.


Edit: oops clicked quote instead of edit.

[MaxWilson]

Concur that helhirdings isn't the way to go against Neifel, even if they're blessed, except maybe unless you have an F9 bless. The cold aura is the killer, so go for Iron Bane (Niefel Giants drop to Prot 5) + skelly spam augmented by serf warriors (set to Guard Commander). Use Destruction if you can't get Iron Bane. Other options, depending upon your gem income and/or research, are Drain Life via the Standard, Ghosts or other summoned creatures with a Fear aura, Rods of the Phoenix (I think--is that an F2 item? if so, Svartalfs can forge them w/ Skull of Fire), Longdead Horsemen + Clockwork horrors (plus Iron Bane of course), and thugged-out Hangadrottir w/ traded-for rings of Frost. I haven't tried all of these, because so far in my experience Iron Bane + cheap troops + skelly spam has been sufficient.

-Max

[Nikelaos]

fear won't work most of the time, nature bless gives beserk.

iron bane sounds a good idea and it should counter an earth bless, life drain would have it's work cut out especially with a nature bless though, i think a barbarian spam + iron bane would be a good idea, also how about sleep cloud beat em at their own game of fatigue, just make sure you have some chaff to hold em back - markatas and hoburgs anyone?

[MaxWilson]

If they're N9 berserkers they're taking extra fatigue and are no longer 0-enc w/ an E9 bless. (Plus, Niefel Jarls will have to wait till they're done buffing to bless, or else you can just hit them with a flyer to berserk them.) The high regen makes Drain Life less viable against them without large numbers of casters, but the increased fatigue (2 per turn) makes them more vulnerable to skelly spam/mechanical men.

So, as Helheim, I suspect you'd be raiding behind his lines (cranking up taxes) to weaken his economy, and if he heads for your capital you'd empty the library and smash his E9N9 Niefel Giants with your researchers. You don't have to win *every* pitched battle, you just need to be able to stop him from walking all over you. Sounds like a fun game.

-Max

[Omnirizon]

sometimes desperation attacks work

[Lingchih]

Niefel Jarls? You Petrify them. Simple as that. Takes a while to get to Petrify though, and not everyone can do it.

[chrispedersen]

Originally Posted by Lingchih

Niefel Jarls? You Petrify them. Simple as that. Takes a while to get to Petrify though, and not everyone can do it.

Petrify isn't actually fool proof. Couple of Niefles with hp in the 240 range - even if you petrify em, they regen faster than you can damage em.

[HoneyBadger]

Which gives a fine reason for Niefelheim to recruit elephants

[Lingchih]

Umm, excuse me? If you petrify them, they turn into stone... ergo, they don't regen anymore... they are dead.

Had it done to me in an MP game. Very nasty.

[chrispedersen]

Originally Posted by Lingchih

Umm, excuse me? If you petrify them, they turn into stone... ergo, they don't regen anymore... they are dead.

Had it done to me in an MP game. Very nasty.

Sorry! Read petrify, thought paralyze.

Petrify could work on anyone - but niefles generally have a solid MR.