I can't seem get Vanheim to work. Need some help.

[FrankTrollman]

I actually think the best Sacred Troops are Marignon's Flagellants. Back those guys up with Fire 9/ Astral 9 as the big giant head, and your scales can actuall be vaguely OK while you pump out vast armies of blessable crap from every castle.

They are made of paper mache, but each one gets Twist Fate, which means that as a whole they stay around for quite a while, and with two attacks each delivering flame blades - they go through ethereal or corporeal troops like a hot knife through butter.

Nonetheless, I'm not much impressed by any sacred troops. Flagellants are great against other nations, where you expect to take losses; but they really suck against independents, where the goal is no losses. A group of Flags will come in, take some losses, and kill way more than their cost against just about everything. Which makes them completely the suck when compared to Marignon Crossbows, who will happily kill most indep forces without taking a scratch.

The only time being sacred is really awesome is when your national mages are sacred (allowing you to put a Water 9 blessing or any Earth Blessing), as that allows you to lay down more spells in combat. Sacred Mages is a big deal, Sacred Troops is a stupid pet trick.

The powerful blessings are not worth their cost when applied to guys with swords. No matter how awesome (vans) or cheap (flagellants) those guys are.

-Frank