[Samhain]

Thanks, TheConway. I updated the link to the one you provided.

I had not tried a Girdle of Might with a Slavegiant. I have tried Toothcracker and Trollguts combined buffs, however. Actually, my major issue was that my Slaughtermaster tended to cast them on units other than my Slavegiants, dooming them to die long before they earned their keep. Perhaps the AI favors quantity over either quality or proximity in deciding what areas to cast magical buffs into. Regardless, a dozen Ogre Ironguts cost about the same, don't have this issue, and are hard to kill with or without the help.

As for use of the magic scale of an opponent's dominion to allow me to take drain. I have to say that I tried it once and it really backfired, souring me to the concept. In this case, it was Tomb Kings, whose scales were otherwise toxic to me making the strategy far more costly than I would have liked. And, when I was attacked on the opposite end of my empire, it hindered my ability to react. Still, if any nation could make that work Ogre Kingdom's should be able to. And, drain helps compensate for the Ogre's generally weak magic resistance. So, it is worth mentioning. Thanks.

And, unfortunately, I can't edit my second post above, but I do like your idea of the awake N9 Green Dragon. So, here is my take on it:

Awake Green Dragon, N9, Dom8, T3S3C3G3L2M1

The goal with this pretender design is making the best of a good thing, the Annoint Mawtribe spell. Unlike the two pretenders above, there will be few resources available for Pitfighter recruitment. But, the awake dragon will provide more than adequate early expansion. And, soon enough summoning 40+ sacred Bulls a turn should be no problem. But, like the two imprisoned pretenders above, this design makes good use of the dominion pushing tools in Ogre Kingdoms.