Test games played

[Nelphine]

What's he using to kill Uber buffed pikemen? Depending on his spells, I might expect them to absolutely destroy behemoths.

[jsb]

Possession is making them kill each other. Once they close with an actual Behemoth though, they slaughter them, but then of course - Animate dead and Tada! New undead Behemoth with more Possession-spam. 

He really shouldn't be as successful  as he is casting it, but he keeps hitting what should be 10-20% rolls. I unfortunately don't have Lionheart either.

I was researching High prayer ... maybe that's actually enough? I haven't looked at what it gives now. If I bring a +resistance unit or two with the stack he instantly targets that using whatever he can, so maybe it is actually really close and the AI knows it? Will try after my flight to Tokyo tomorrow.

[jsb]

Suriname: Yes, last time I got a look there were 9 buffed Behemoths waiting there. His heroes must be somewhere else. I don't have any superhero of my own, but I have Create artifact, so I could make one I suppose.

I think I can turn it around actually, I think I am prone to analyzing the  end-game as if I was playing a number opponent. It actually felt that way  but when he started to attack. I was a bit shocked at how efficient he was with his Behemoth-tactics in the opening stages of the great Myrran War. He burned a number of my cities to the ground very quickly, but I still have my homelands and Behemoths are slow, so I could still be OK.

I also don't have True sight, so his obnoxious Nightblades are actually a real pain and he uses them to great effect. My Paladin-producing cities are on my initial isolated island, so it takes time getting them where they need to be, and if I spread them out to spot for Nightblades they can't fight the Behemoths (although the Pikemen are a much better fit for that role, given proper cover I suppose).

[teelaurila]

Excorcism and Holy Word should have extra power against the animated behemoths. If you manage to clear all living behemoths once, especially the latter should kill more than half of the zombie versions in a single swoop.

Bless should quite effectively counter possession?

[Nelphine]

I was thinking bless plus heroism/war college (elite is enough usually, but altar of battle is better) plus an angel for holy bonus OR unicorns for resist 2. That's +8 or +9 resist. But if he can kill a unicorn super fast, might not be enough. Too bad about lionheart. Chaos channels would be really good, as fantastic units are immune to possession.

[crusader.mike]

Without save/load you are most likely lost this game. Unless you somehow come up with Torin-level hero that simply melees behemoths and heals (and ideally invisible).

[Suriname]

Nah, just go for the head - fortress strike. Be ready to do a wave of suicide trireme attacks to suck all her mana!

[jsb]

I don't have the game or numbers here in front of me but I remember those Behemoths had something like 13 resistance,  so even with a -3 modifier for being undead ...

It's like the game conspired to deprive me of simple counters. I have neither Chaos channels, Lionheart, Angels or Unicorns. L4/C4 but I mostly have city buffs. I don't have Altar of Battle, so I am calling out a lot of high level troops.

Those suicide triremes sounds cheesy, maybe I'll resort to that kind of tactics before this is over.

[Suriname]

Could be. But... That mana is cheated anyway.

[jsb]

Very true.