Vanheim - help wanted.

[Ironhawk]

Borg said:

Thàt needs a little explanation , I'm afraid (coming from someone who hasn't played Blood before

Hehhehe, no problem. I think everythings been pretty much explained so I'll just recap. Soul Contract is just an item like any other and is not automatically assigned to the creating mage (as the description may imply) so it will just appear in your magic item list. Once you put that Contract into the hands of an (un)willing commander, 1 devil will be automatically summoned every turn. In this way a single strong blood mage (your pretender in this case) can supply a legion of cheap bloodless commanders with Contracts resulting in an ever-increasing rate of Devil summoning.

And as was previously stated: Scouts are the preferred holder of Contracts because they are so hard for your enemies to find/kill while Hiding. Horror attacks will definitely still occur on them but in my experience not nearly fast enough to make up for the benefit of having a horde of devil summoners.

[Borg]

I've played (started up) about four games now with Vanheim (up to turn 15 or so) and I must say their Blood Magic ability has got me confused.

I really don't see the "synergy" with their Air Magic ability.
After reading through all the Blood Spells in the manual, I noticed very little usefull Battlefield Spells.
On top of that, almost ALL Blood spells have incredible fatigue-numbers.
Lvl-1 blood spells nearly all give 100 fatigue and are very limited in what they can do (single figure or 1 area at best)
Since your mages are only B1 (B2 at best but very expensive) I don't see how Blood Magic can be very effective for them.
Should I just ignore Blood Magic at the start of the game and start using it no sooner than mid to late game.
It seems very unproductive to put research points in it in the early game.

It seems to me that giving the E3? Dwarf more spell casting options is a much better early game strategy. Simply send a priest along to help Bless the sacred troops, get some air shield and then shoot some lightning bolts at the enemy.

Really looking for some helpful suggestions here, more specifically on your research strategy (which paths, up to which level, to get which spells ... etc)

[Turin]

yeah don´t bother with blood until later.

good early game research levels are evocation 4 for bladewind/lightning bolt/thunder strike, and conjuration 3 for call of the winds/summon earth power.
That´s enough to easily win early game skirmishes and call of the winds lets you siege castles for a very cheap gem investment.

Later go for wrathful skies and cloudtrapeze.

[Truper]

Vanheim isn't exactly a blood nation. The Vans remember how to sate nature with blood, but it isn't one of Vanheim's primary abilities. In other words, Vans are awfully expensive if you're going to use them as blood 1 mages

On the other hand, the occasional sacrifice to help spread dominion can be justified under some circumstances, and blood is the easiest path to "ramp up". In midgame, you can begin making an investment in blood, forge a few dousing rods, forge a few boosters, and you're on your way. Blood is hard to use on the battlefield, but Storm Demons are useful, and seem rather thematic as well. Enough blood can also alow you to diversify your magic. For instance, a Fallen Angel is a good fire mage, as well as a good blood mage, and can make a nice thug in a pinch.

[Borg]

I understand you can make a blood sacrifice to increase your dominion.
Is this dominion increase guaranteed or is it a gamble (percentage) just like praying ?

[shovah]

i think every sacrificed slave cause a temple check

[Sandman]

You can use blood a bit more effectively if you take the Midgard theme, IMO. You get one blood-pick Galderman for every four, and they're fairly cheap and very flexible.