Is Vanheim generally considered overpowered? Just asking, I dont claim to know.

[Saber Cherry]

Originally posted by Osium:
I lost about 45 units plus an assortment of mages. Of his 110 units, I'd guess 40 were valks, I killed maybe 25 of them. His vans and regular infantry were able to bog down my pretender and the rest of my units. I don't know if 18 elephants and about 45 Hyps + my god is a good trade off for what he was able to inflict on me.

Vans and Valkyries can be beaten by heavily armored units and by damage spells. His were fire-blessed, though, so armor is not very good. In that case, I would suggest firey spells, like fireball, falling fires, and so forth. Cheap archers and xbows work well too; they only have 13 protection, and a single hit kills their mirrror image. Of course, Valkyries can fly... so you have to distract them with a closer target than your archers. But elephants won't work at all.

[Graeme Dice]

Originally posted by PhilD:
OK guys, who are you using for Blade Wind? Each time I've had someone casting it, I saw a very pretty display of very harmless blades fan out from my mage's hands, either falling very far from any possible targets or grazing them harmlessly.

How far are your mages from the front of the battlefield? I tend to put master smiths right behind my Ulmish infantry, but far enough away that stray arrows won't hit them.

(But, if you don't want your Mages to cast BW more than once, it's typically enough not to give them any gems; at 80- Fatigue for level 3, it would take Earth 4 to still be conscious after two castings)

That's what summon earthpower and the earth reinvigoration belt is for with Ulm. Give your smiths earth boots and the belt, maybe an eye of aiming if you have independent air mages. Cast summon earthpower, blade wind X 4. They will get a bunch off in a battle that way.

[Norfleet]

Originally posted by Osium:
My pretender fatigued out rather quickly, an oversight on my behalf it was a Nataraja using 4 enchanted swords a pendant of luck. I over buffed and ended up at like 80 fatigue it did nice damage but 3 turns later it was sitting still getting swamped.

It also helps if a pretender you're trying to use as an SC has somewhat more endurance than a schoolgirl, because it's not much use if its only action in a battle is to pass out. You need a minimum reinvigoration level equal to twice your melee encumberance to be worthwhile.

[Teraswaerto]

Or a Wraith Sword. No good for a trampler though...

[Jasper]

Originally posted by Osium:
I was one of the unfortunate victims. I was Arco and was using Hyps and Elephants.

My pretender fatigued out rather quickly, an oversight on my behalf it was a Nataraja using 4 enchanted swords a pendant of luck. I over buffed and ended up at like 80 fatigue it did nice damage but 3 turns later it was sitting still getting swamped.

Your opponents army cost quite a bit more than yours, elephants suck against Van, and you can put better equipment on your Nataraja.

Vs. Van I'd stick with Hoplites screening mages, perhaps with a bunch of javelin armed infantry. Tangle Vines and Earth Meld are effective against high defense units, as are evocations. Area effect spells are nice against Glamour.

For the Nataraja, have a Mystic cast Body Ethereal and Luck on him, equip a Wraith sword (or two!) plus 2 weapons with good defense, add some decent armor and reinvigoration, plus regeneration and quickness if you can get it. Against Vanheim make sure you have lightning resistance and boosted attack to hit Van. Season according to what spells the Nataraja can cast.

The one nice thing about Vanheim is they can make their own little slayers. With an appropriate blessing, a Vanjarl during a storm can cast Mistform. When equipped with a Wraith Sword and mistformed, they are hard to hit and hard to kill. Try with a Water9 Blessing for effect.

[Pocus]

Originally posted by Zen:
The one nice thing about Vanheim is they can make their own little slayers. With an appropriate blessing, a Vanjarl during a storm can cast Mistform. When equipped with a Wraith Sword and mistformed, they are hard to hit and hard to kill. Try with a Water9 Blessing for effect.

Well, hard to hit except with spells, you are piling on evasive parameters (high defence, mistform), but still the unit has something like 12 HP. A single star fire hiting will earn him a one way trip to heaven.