[Squirrelloid]

The heroes aren't that good?

First of all, 7+ research i don't have to pay upkeep on is always good in my book.

Second, those Olm heroes you can get repeatedly can have W and/or E up to 5. That's some serious high-path casting power.

Finally, there're gems like the E5F2 Oracle with Reinvigoration 4 already built in. With an E9 bless and summon earth power thats reinvig *12*. And with E5, he'll literally cast all day.

What passes for good heroes if these don't qualify?

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I fail to see the value of a nature bless. Healing 2hp/trn is *not* that exciting, and low regeneration doesn't lead to that much lower of a wound rate. I'd rather have the +4 protection any day, especially since it'll make for some killer SCs. I'm hitting protection 40 at the end of year 1 on my Oracles after two rounds of blessing. Now that's defense.

Similarly, your sacreds that are worth using will accrue fatigue - water bless seems like it exacerbates the problem. You don't hit often, so i can't see you winning combats quickly. Water bless seems to be a non-starter, but i'll try it.

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Starting with Trogs is the best initial expansion army I can find. I haven't really used them otherwise, but out of the box it seems to be your best value for your money turn one and will get your expansion going. And you need them to grab some provinces early to maximize good luck event chances.

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Note on blessing:
You need Oracles or a prophet for divine bless. Your mages (especially earth readers with their low area bless) will miss some of your sacreds even if there's only *5* of them. Even if you repeatedly cast blessing. This leads to dead troops you can't afford. So oracles seem to be your only repeatable and viable bless chassis.

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Earth meld would be great if you could hit anything with it. Precision what - 7? Not interested. Certainly not at the expense of really early Legions of Steel and forged bracers.