Playin impossible mage, might need help

[megajon]

Kinda hittin a dead end in dwarf land right now... supposed to free the castle to get the treaty signed... but I get my ass kicked in that fight.

Fastest unit I have is dwarven cannon, and nearly every demon goes before them. I wish I had enough might runes to get the +initiative talents but I am still a lil ways off from that.

My current army is-
Griffin around 78
Evil Beholder 39
Cannoneer 32
Archmage 39
Orc Shaman 39

27 int, 99 mana
higher magic I
Chaos III
Distortion III

I have no problem taking controll against armies I win initiative on, but these guys all through the field into total chaos before I get a move.

Just wonderin if there is some initiative 7+ guys I am missing to this point.. What about those lake spirits you get at the start of the game? Should I garrison my army and stock up on them through defeats? I have the ring that gives females +3 initiative/everything else... does it work on them?

[travelingoz]

you could swap the 15 sprites with your griffins or whatever. Then you will get first turn. I would cast mass magic shackles first, then you're free to party!

[megajon]

word, that's what I was thinkin as well =)

oh that's right! they were sprites! Should definately work with the ring

[Ryastar]

I would also consider switching in giants for the archmagi. All demon troops are land-based, iirc, so the giant's earthquake should be able to do ridiculous amounts of damage, as well as surviving really well.

On another note, if you do use sprites, you will suffer a morale loss to your cannoneers, (and giants, if you add them), so think carefully before you do that.

[megajon]

I used giants, but they have such a high leadership rating, that as a mage I can only get 4 of them... so I opted for 87 griffins instead... I like the arch mages simply because I am currently using a phantom griffin army strat and the shield prolongs the life of my double phantom griffin stacks I drop in the enemy front ranks turn 1. Turn 2 I mana spring the other stack. makes for lots of rage/mana gain. The following turns I clone my orc shamans and make a totem forest. I will likely use giants when I go warrior impossible next, and the boots that make my slowest unit gain +1 move.

[megajon]

I guess I will replace my cannoneers with sprites, and conceed to loose my endless supply of griffins this fight... and drop 4 griffin stacks in thier front line on turn 1.

[megajon]

still haven't beaten that castle... I resorted to returning to clean-up/quest freedom isle, which still has a ton of xp for me and come back when I get lvl 16.. I am up to 120 mana now still at 15... hopefully get another boost at 16... or maybe leadership.

Think I will go with: polar bears, griffins, ancient bears, shamans, 15 sprites, and just concede to have a blood bath when I return to that castle... the only creatures I will use in the future will be shamans/griffins, but I have a near endless supply of each.

I am thinkin
turn 1
- mass shackles
- hypnotise one scoffer imp stack
- charge with my circus
- drop a totem with my front line of beasts

turn 2
- phantom my shamans
- drop 2 more totems
- keep pressing the action
- drop iceball or glots armor

turn 3 on just alternate casting magic spring and phantom till they are dead

[megajon]

well I spanked this fight pretty easily... just had to switch back to my snakes and the banner that gives +1 initiative to lvl 1-3 troops.

it's really all about winning initiative as a mage atleast.

right now I am lvl 18 and using:
green dragons
royal thorns
orc shamans
inquisitors
evil beholders

so long as the dragons can keep winning me initiative I might stay in this set up till the end of the game... assuming I can find another supply of royal thorns or a sacrifice spell.

I have found multiple copies of just about every uber spell out there except sacrifice.

[megajon]

I found a black dragon egg, a spot to buy arch devils, and red dragons...

unfortunately the devils and black dragon can't be ress'd buy my inquisitors, my spell, or timeback; so I had to put them back on my bench :(

I am however back in elf land now and spanking everything with my new red/green dragons... I just hope I can eventually find sacrifice or another spot to buy royal thorns... I love em, and altho I can't res them, I can atleast timeback them.

question: if you use necro call on your own undead units will it ressurect them? If so I might pick up the necromancers I found in demonis as well.

[Ryastar]

No, necro call only works on a fully dead stack, ie. one with no more units in it.. And it will only raise a percentage of those lost, so it isn't worth it.

[megajon]

thanks, one more question.. can you resurrect or inquisitor ressurect any undead?

also, how do druids rate vs royal thorns? they seem to be a decent alternative... maybe even better since they can charm beasts and are ressable? but i havent field tested them yet

[megajon]

thanks!

another couple questions:
can you res or use inquisitor res on undead units? might use necromancers if so.

also anyone have any experience with druids? might just use them as a substitute for royal thorns... I can res them easily, they are ranged, and they can poop bears out, ohh and also they can charm beasts.. so one might argue they are superior to the thorns... I know that thier bears are fewer in leadership value than the royal thorns germination... but they do have some other perks to compinsate... anyone field tested them?