another noob question...

[Gandalf Parker]

On a larger map game you can also gather your army on the way to the war. I wait to gather a huge army of nationals then send them, the war will be over before they get there. So I make troops along the entire path. I make a national leader, some elite troops, some summons, and a few items (pot, bag, sword) for feeding the troops. Then as I travel I pick up elephants here, knights there, some archers, some heavy infantry, some javilineers, even a large batch of slingers.

[Aleph]

Or you can play a nation with reanimating priests (Lanka, MA/LA Ermor, LA Ctis through it's national summons, LA Pangea or all ages if you take a nature/death pretender, Mictlan through the Civeteto) and leave them alone for a while reanimating while you do other things - this has the advantage of requiring no gold/upkeep besides the mages in question, and they don't get hungry and chew through all your supply. I believe Mound Fiends can also reanimate, but they are a little more difficult to get in huge amounts before you've already won. I don't have much experience with most of these nations, but MA Ermor's massed Longdead Horsemen can really make a huge difference.

[Taqwus]

LA Ermor and R'lyeh also get dominion-generated freespawn.

Granted, they're not very GOOD troops sans buffing spells (heh, imagine an army of longdead with Army of Lead and Mass Flight...), but they can be accumulated in huge numbers.