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

[Osium]

My nataraja was self buffing quickness ethereal body and ironskin, then attacking rear. She had chainmail of displacement and some flying boots I was able to pickup as well as the luck pendant. I was trying to scrounge for a regen or reinvig item, I just couldnt come up with one. I thought the chainmail sounded cool, but im not exactly sure what it did if anything ;p

It's easy to say don't use elephants but I had no idea what he was using till it was too late so I had to make do ;p I thought my tactic was sound, just not heavy enough numbers wise. With another 2 units of Hyps/elephants It would have been pretty close.

Valks imo are just an extremely potent unit. Using blade wind sounds good in theory but because the valks fly, and he has them set to attack rear, I guess I'd need to bring in a massive horde of useless units stick them in the back somewhere and just accept any FF as a neccesary evil ;p For some reason it reminds me of Braveheart and the "send the irish, arrows cost money" ;p The trick is to get them to attack stuff they can't kill super fast, or just give them ALOT of fat to chew while you deal with the rest of the attack.

Im wondering if serpent dancers might be a viable counter, with a water blessing they'd have high defence. They are much cheaper allowing me to build more of the dancers for absorbing the valk attack, and a massive zerg of regular infantry for frontal attacks. Sauromancers terroring it up to disperse his other stuff. Go for high domain, that would allow me to eventually push out a fair wack.

I have another question, when using a fire blessing, on say a spider or a knight, does the fire armor piercing attack also apply to the hoof/fang attacks? High defence negates the armor piercing aspect of fire9 bless, but I wonder if the +atk gained from it would overcome the defence.

[PvK]

Yep - fodder time. Let the Vans massacre 100 units - but let them be cheapos - undead, provincial defense, tribals, militia, etc. Not expensive Hypaspists and elephants. Try to get them to engage a fresh unit of competent troops only after they're tired out from killing the cannon fodder. May be difficult to choreograph. Lots of cheap archers are a good idea too, though they could also end up killing your cannon fodder if you try to coordinate tactics.

PvK

[Saber Cherry]

Originally posted by Osium:
My nataraja was self buffing quickness ethereal body and ironskin, then attacking rear. She had chainmail of displacement and some flying boots I was able to pickup as well as the luck pendant. I was trying to scrounge for a regen or reinvig item, I just couldnt come up with one. I thought the chainmail sounded cool, but im not exactly sure what it did if anything ;p

Nothing. I thought it gave mirror image, but actually it just gives a defense bonus, while most armor gives a defense penalty. IMO it should give mirror image.

[Pocus]

As Arco you have prime access to - somehow - precise combat spells (star fire, mind burn, soul slay). A mystic cost 3 times a Valks, but can cast quite a lot of these spells anyway.

You can also buff the bodyguards around your mage by etheralizing them with the same mystics.

[Nagot Gick Fel]

Originally posted by Osium:
My nataraja was self buffing quickness ethereal body and ironskin, then attacking rear. She had chainmail of displacement...

It's amazing how many people think of the Nataraja as a female being. I guess it's because hindu art often represents the human body in a manner that seems effeminate to western eyes.

Anyway "raja" is the sanskrit title for "lord", and Nataraja is just an avatar of Shiva, who is known to be a male deity.

[Master Shake]

40 Valkyries? That's a huge wad of gold. Just play Abysia, make a couple Soul Contracts, and let the Devils pile up. By the time he has been able to buy 40 Valkyries, you'll have twice that number of Devils. I'll take a Devil over a Valkyie any day.

[Pocus]

Originally posted by Master Shake:
40 Valkyries? That's a huge wad of gold. Just play Abysia, make a couple Soul Contracts, and let the Devils pile up. By the time he has been able to buy 40 Valkyries, you'll have twice that number of Devils. I'll take a Devil over a Valkyie any day.

2400 (or so) gold spent on a side, and on the other construction 6 researched, one dwarven hammer, 120 slaves, plus surely one or two +1 blood items on the other side. Are you not overstating a bit your case?