Some selected snippets from a [http://www.shrapnelcommunity.com/threads/showflat.php?Cat=&Number=457848&page=0&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=&fpart=1 thread on the Shrapnel Boards]:
*Any commander, even independent ones, with atleast one level of Holy can reanimate undeads. So take advtantage of this and recruit lots of priests outside your capitol to make expendable chaff troops.
*Your best low level thugs would be Banes, Conjuration lvl 3. A good chasis with enough MR to resist banish from low level priests. A lucky pendant (5 astral gems) and whatever 10+ damage weapon you can afford will make a good thug against anything that doesn't have trample. Doom Glaive being a favourite of mine. This works until lvl 7+ summons shows up on the scene anyway.
*Conjuration lvl 2 also gives you Dark knowledge which should help in improving your death gem income.
*Enchantment lvl 1 will give your mages the ability to spam undead on the battlefield. lvl 4 gives you Behemoths.
*A well known battlefield tactic for Ermor and Pythium is to make a large block of Principes and place an astral mage or two in the middle. Then cast the Alteration 3 spell Body Etheral. This gives you etheral troops with armor and good stats! Give the principes the order to Fire closest, they will throw their javelins at their closest target and then engage.
*You need to make a deciscion what your Middle/Late game is going to be though. Either you invest in astral magic with Thaumaturgy at lvl 5+ for Soulslay and Enslave mind spells. Or you try to get Conjuration lvl 9 and bring out some Tartarians. There are some nice Death evocation spells, but I have yet to train evocation beyond lvl 3 with ermor until turn 60+, thinking that Conjuration or Enchantment is more important for them.
*Death and Astral spells are your strenghts. Etheral principes with some decked out banes as a vanguard, a horde of low undead chaff to wear the enemy down and all of them backed up by 3-4 unholy priests is a pretty standard Ermor tactic.
*Your "artillery" will be lacking until quite well into the game. But cheap commanders with decent preciscion score can be decked with scepters of command (F2, construction lvl 4) for some decent long range firepower. You will need either your pretender of an indy mage to make these though.
*You can use the Black Servants from Conjuration 1 for some early game action if you can get them some armor
**They are ethereal, and that helps a lot. You'll probably won't have enough gems or mages to make armor, but e.g. Earth would be wonderful. As with most undead, they have Encumberance 0, and thus won't suffer from heavy armors' fatique.
**You really need to put an anti magic amulet on them; otherwise even independents will banish them pretty darn quick
**A Black servant with a Doom glaive, Fire plate, anti magic amulet makes a good thug; thats quite a bit of gem investment in one lvl 1 summon though
*Death Magic has a good number of spells for stealth raiding squads. I use them mainly to pick on provinces with temples in them where you only have to deal with PD. A Spectre commander with Shades, Shade Beasts, Dispossed Spirits, and Ghosts are all available at D3 and Conj 6. They're all stealthy and ethereal and Chill 3 I believe, and Spectre's are pretty good mages.
*Astral magic can be used to increase the holy power of high priests during combat, giving them access to higher undead-enhancing priest spells.
*Develop combined arms tactics with a mix of different types of undead and living troops.
*You can also use Antimagic, the Astral 3 spell to further protect your undead units
The "new order" has proven to be substantially more dangerous than believed, and not just for the enemies of the Empire. The dead walk the earth, while the living struggle to avoid joining them. The Thaumaturgs and priests of the empire have some ability to control the dead, but the situation has become even more unstable with the rebellion of peripheral elements of the empire, such as the new nation of Pythium.
The nation still has legions, but now they are composed of an unholy mix of the living and the dead, and the chaos is not helpful.
Pretenders
The following pretender god chassis are available for Broken Empire:
Temple of the Dead -- Capital-only recruitment and 4 Death gems per turn
Temple of the Spheres -- Capital-only recruitment and 1 Astral gem per turn
Unique Spells
Middle Era Ermor gets no unique spells, though they are presented with a number of unique Holy spells that are automatically available without research.
National Heroes
Mortius the Scythe Wielder
Mortius appears to be an odd duck of a hero. He is almost identical to any other Grand Thaumaturg, except that his defense and morale are slightly worse and better, respectively. A slightly better leadership (25/120/20) does not seem to make him anything special.
However, he does carry the Infernal Scythe, a magical weapon that will banish anyone wounded with it to the "Inferno". This could make him an interesting super-combatant killer... if he had a decent attack skill, which he does not.
Zirru the Grand Thaumaturg
Although Zirru starts off at a very ripe old age (160+), this is not particularly ancient for a Sauromancer when old age starts at 150. That and his high level in death magic make it unlikely that he will accumulate afflictions due to old age.
Zirru comes with 2S4D, which makes him an excellent candidate for upping your death magic in the unlikely event that your pretender does not comes with a high level in death.
Any commander, even independent ones, with atleast one level of Holy can reanimate undeads. So take advtantage of this and recruit lots of priests outside your capitol to make expendable chaff troops.
Your best low level thugs would be Banes, Conjuration lvl 3. A good chasis with enough MR to resist banish from low level priests. A lucky pendant (5 astral gems) and whatever 10+ damage weapon you can afford will make a good thug against anything that doesn't have trample. Doom Glaive being a favourite of mine. This works until lvl 7+ summons shows up on the scene anyway.
Conjuration lvl 2 also gives you Dark knowledge which should help in improving your death gem income.
Enchantment lvl 1 will give your mages the ability to spam undead on the battlefield. lvl 4 gives you Behemoths.
A well known battlefield tactic for Ermor and Pythium is to make a large block of Principes and place an astral mage or two in the middle. Then cast the Alteration 3 spell Body Etheral. This gives you etheral troops with armor and good stats! Give the principes the order to Fire closest, they will throw their javelins at their closest target and then engage.
You need to make a deciscion what your Middle/Late game is going to be though. Either you invest in astral magic with Thaumaturgy at lvl 5+ for Soulslay and Enslave mind spells. Or you try to get Conjuration lvl 9 and bring out some Tartarians. There are some nice Death evocation spells, but I have yet to train evocation beyond lvl 3 with ermor until turn 60+, thinking that Conjuration or Enchantment is more important for them.
Death and Astral spells are your strenghts. Etheral principes with some decked out banes as a vanguard, a horde of low undead chaff to wear the enemy down and all of them backed up by 3-4 unholy priests is a pretty standard Ermor tactic.
Your "artillery" will be lacking until quite well into the game. But cheap commanders with decent preciscion score can be decked with scepters of command (F2, construction lvl 4) for some decent long range firepower. You will need either your pretender of an indy mage to make these though.
You can use the Black Servants from Conjuration 1 for some early game action if you can get them some armor
They are ethereal, and that helps a lot. You'll probably won't have enough gems or mages to make armor, but e.g. Earth would be wonderful. As with most undead, they have Encumberance 0, and thus won't suffer from heavy armors' fatique.
You really need to put an anti magic amulet on them; otherwise even independents will banish them pretty darn quick
A Black servant with a Doom glaive, Fire plate, anti magic amulet makes a good thug; thats quite a bit of gem investment in one lvl 1 summon though
Death Magic has a good number of spells for stealth raiding squads. I use them mainly to pick on provinces with temples in them where you only have to deal with PD. A Spectre commander with Shades, Shade Beasts, Dispossed Spirits, and Ghosts are all available at D3 and Conj 6. They're all stealthy and ethereal and Chill 3 I believe, and Spectre's are pretty good mages.
Astral magic can be used to increase the holy power of high priests during combat, giving them access to higher undead-enhancing priest spells.
Develop combined arms tactics with a mix of different types of undead and living troops.
You can also use Antimagic, the Astral 3 spell to further protect your undead units
