[dirtywick]

Magic and Magic Items

Depending on your pretender, the magic you pursue will be different. As stated earlier, with the Dragon I go Enchantment 2 for Animate Skeleton, Animate Dead, and Personal Regeneration. The two former are good spells for some mage support, sort of, and Personal Regeneration keeps afflictions off the dragon and the hp high. Then Construction 2 for some minor items to increase it's effectiveness. Other paths to consider are Enchantment 3 for Dragon Master, Raise Dead/Skeletons, then Conj 2 for Tangle Vines and a good deal on Ice Drakes if you get a lucky pick on a Marshmaster. Construction 4 for good boosters is good also as it opens up quite a bit, Enchantment 4 for Behemoths and Quagmire, a powerful battlefield spell that turns the battlefield into a swamp to your benefit, and Enchantment 5 for Foul Vapors. Thaumaturgy 2 for site searching is also a priority as well as communions, but beyond that there's not much for you unless you're fighting a lot of undead besides Gift of Reason, which you really don't need until you have something worth using it on. Evocation doesn't really shine either until 4 for Nether Bolt and Breath of the Dragon, with Rain at 2 being situational. Later Nether Darts, Storm of Thorns, shadow Blast, and especially Ice Strike are great spells I script frequently when I get that deep into the tree.

The best paths to prioritize though are Conjuration, Alteration, Construction, and Enchantment for some key spells. Conjuration 1 early will net you Black Servant, probably your only real option for a scout. Conjuration 3 and Construction 2 will let you set up some Vine Ogre factories, they're immune to poison and good arrow catchers/bodyguards, although Miasma effects them just the same their high hp and relative low individual value makes this trivial. Once you hit Conjuration 4 and start summoning Bog Beasts, the Vine Ogre hordes will begin to shine mixed with them. Conjuration 5 is big, as it gives you Sirrush and Monster Toads who mix well with the Vine Ogres and Bog Beasts. It also gives access to Naiads, as W3 is somewhat difficult to come by without boosters as well as commanders that lead underwater, but beware as they aren't immune to Miasma, though a Snake Ring appears to fix that handily for some reason. Conjuration 5 also gives you access to the Spectre, which can help round out your missing paths if you're patient, or lucky, and have gems to spare. Another common thug is the Bane Lord available at 5. Finally, you get Ghost Grip, a nice spell for fatiguing opponents, especially on an Empoisoner in conjunction with Tangle Vines. Conjuration 6 gives Lamia Queen and Sea King's Court, both worthy units to pursue; the Lamia Queen can get blood and makes a good thug when you get Soul Vortex, Sea Kings Court gives a bunch of units vunerable to Miasma but strong in the water where your dominion probably isn't as strong, so get them down there quickly or don't bother. Level 7 is even better with Catoblepas, another poison cloud trampler with a death gaze ranged weapon and you get Couatls and Wraith Lords, both great spellcasters and the Wraith Lord a good SC. Level 7 also gives Mound Fiends, not that you need the death access but the Reanimation may be worth looking into, though it is late in the game and probably not worth the time. Level 8 gives you Fairie Court, not especially good as she's not immune to the Miasma, though recuperation should solve that, but seems to stave off disease well and give you good access to Air. I'd recommend at least one of these for some forges, especially a Storm Staff. Level 9 the Tarrasque, another strong poison cloud unit that unfortunately isn't tripled by Dragon Master, as well as Tartarians and Ghost Riders.

One of the more interesting strategies with the Dragon and Lord of the Summer Plague is to mass Vine Ogres, Bog Beasts, Sirrush, Monster Toads, Behemoths, and eventually Catoblepas and Tarrasque and mix them into a huge wall of giant sized monsters surrounded by poison. Early, just the Vine Ogres and Bog Beasts are enough to tie up most smaller troops and let the poison do the killing, especially if you bring some Poison Slingers along. Once you start mixing in Behemoths and Monster Toads, you can start moving deep into armies rapidly by trampling your way there and let the Bog Beasts hang back and spit poison, all the while poisoning everything around. Bringing a Lizard Lord to Divine Bless the Monster Toads, and the few Sirrush you'll likely have, will make them go berserk and regenerate, increasing their staying power and keeping more of the army trapping in poison clouds. This can carry you late through the early game and well into the middle game. The easy counter is Serpent's Blessing, but that's pretty deep into the Enchantment tree, and even still stopping a horde of berserk tramplers isn't easy.

Moving along to the other trees, Alteration is important to prioritize early. Eagle Eyes is good later when you have some high level Evocations to increase their effectiveness, but level 5 gives Bone Melter (which seems terribly innaccurate unfortunately) and Wooden Warriors for some low protection units, but most importantly Mother Oak. Lots of nature gems works really, really well with massing the above Ogres and Toads and forging a lot of valuable thug/SC equipment, and putting out Couatls. Soul Vortex and Frozen Heart at 6, Mass Protection at 7, Quickening and Disintegrate at 8 can all wait until you're ready to unleash some Wraith Lords, though Frozen Heart and Disentegrate may find priority if you're pressed by a big threat.

Enchantment 4 gives Poison Ward, useful for protecting yourself if you want to mix your armies a bit with the poison cloud units as well as the Behemoth, useful to mix into your poison clouds. Level 5 gives a very important spell, Foul Vapors, which releases poison clouds into the whole battlefield, most likely effecting your enemy more than yourself, as well as Gift of Health, something you'll want up for Tartarians and general use. Relief at 6 is also nice for expected long battles and communions, though not something I'd inherently pursue above a lot of other options, as well as Hidden in Snow, which may help gain access to some paths.

Construction should be obvious for kitting out units with items, especially if you are pursuing Conjuration at any length. Nature, Water, and low Astral give a lot of good items for keeping thugs/SCs alive, as well as path boosters. I'd recommend hitting 4 before summoning Bane Lords, and 6 for Wraith Lords. Frost Brands, Rime Hauberks, Vine/Eye Shields, Horn Helmets/Horror Helms, Hydra Skin Armor, Boots of Quickness, Ring of Regen, Amulet of Luck, Amulet of Antimagic are all readily available. With a Couatl, Robe of Shadows. Boosters of all types are also available, Thistle Mace, Water Bracelet, Robe of the Sea, Moonvine Bracelet, Astral Skullcap, Skull Staff, Skullface, etc. Also, a Banner of the Northstar and a bunch of cheap Shamans opens up some options on the battlefield, such as Mind Burn and Paralyze. And of course, a pretty good chunk of your Marshmasters can forge Clams, and Skull Mentors are a really good research aid easily available. Finally, supplies are almost a non-issue between Cauldrons and Endless Bags of Wine. This is one of the few nations where even the standard troop commanders don't benefit from a bow or spell casting item; the mages all have better things to do and the Lizard Lords can cast Smite.

Other paths are less valuable; you're not a Blood nation so I won't bother with that. Evocation isn't useful before level 4 except situationally, so investing heavily early isn't a good idea until you can practically skip those levels when you're bringing in hundreds of research a turn. Alteration is about on the same scale, though early Mother Oak is very important, there's not much else before that worth investing the points into when more attractive options in Conjuration, Construction, and Enchantment exist.

Closing

Basically, once you have your early expansion done, it's really all about what you want to do with your Marshmasters and how you want to research. Your conventional armies will only take you so far, but further with some buffs. You have a wide variety of summons, from more standard fare to giant, poisonous, trampling armies. Later, they can cast some of the most powerful evocations or communion into powerful battle magic.

Have fun.