Black Forest - Ulm

Alright; I've had a few runs with the new Black Forest Theme and I have a few questions.

First of all, I love the theme. Rangers of Ulm, Wolfherds, and Ghoul Guardians are all extremly strong.

The theme has quite a few positive points, but my main question is the speed at which you can get a Vampire Count and equipment to create the hyperquick indy supercombatant.

All you need is a Horror Helmet, Pendant of Luck, Barkskin Amulet.

I've gotten a Vampire Count and that equipment at Turn 8. Albiet in order to do that you have to sacrifice some of your initial growth ( I had only 6 Provinces, including my home province ). But he is basically an additional army, and on turn 11 I had another with the same equipment. When Construction 4 rolls around you can send them to a lab and upgrade with Anti-magic amulets and then you are starting to cook with gas.

I was just wondering if this was planned. As I can see it; you can, without much effort make quite strong SC's with Black Forest at about 15, without sacrificing much in the way of any production or research.

FYI, Vampire Counts start with: Regeneration, Flying, Ethereal, Immortal, Stealth, 2 Death, 2 Blood, and cost 44 Blood Slaves

Edit: Oh yeah, for some of those without access or informational purposes. Vampires start with Life Drain, and have 0 Encumberance

[ January 13, 2004, 10:44: Message edited by: Zen ]