LA Ulm has been set to AI as I was brought in to do. Sorry about the stall, I had got used to the two weeks between turns
I played a few turns just to see what LA Ulm was like. And they had a stack of cash I wanted to spend

I have to say I don't think much of LA Ulm. The position was hopeless of course in this game. But I can't see they have much potential anyway. It is micromanagement hell without much power at the end.
Want to cast almost any battle spell? You'll need a communion. For just about everything, even to get Summon Earthpower
With very low path mages overland spells (even site searching) is tough. And globals, summons and more fancy forging impossible without trades or empowerment in all paths. And research seems poor, even for LA.
It is a blood nation but the low quality blood mages mean you can't do much with the blood without a lot of empowerment, hardly something limited to LA Ulm, but it does mean blood is more micromanagement than usual.
The immortal Vampire Counts gather free chaff and can blood hunt. But thats it. They make poor thugs as they have few castable buffs and are too weak to be used without equipment (which is lost when it dies).
I took a brief look at the guide and it mentioned a go to battle spell. Sadly it doesn't seem to be in my manual and it never came up as an option on my casting lists so I have no idea what it's requirements are or if it would indeed have saved them....
Anyway Ulm is gone to AI. The two main neighbours of Ulm are Vanheim and TC so these two are likely to benefit most. So the rest of you have been warned. Their lands lie in a strip along the Western edge of the map.