[Lingchih]

Interesting. I love playing Pan, and have done so often, but have always used the Gorgon, for the sheer terror it elicits in your opponents. I could use a change though. Perhaps I will go with a bull next time.

I usually do the manikin thing by hand. That is, just research up until you can summon Carrion Lords, and then plop them in forests with temples to reanimate the manikins. Slower, but you don't have the pop death, and don't have to worry about the global being dispelled, and you get a pretty good reanimation rate going fairly quickly, and you still get the elephants fairly regularly.

Of course, that means for the first 20 or more turns, you are just expanding with nationals, maenads, and the Gorgon, but it seems to work OK. I tend to make friends with my neighbors in those games, since your real power is quite a while in coming.