Ulm, Middle Age: a player's guide

The plain text states what the game data says about Ulm in the Middle Age, with each rule linked to its source page. The shaded Opinion blocks are one player’s advice.

At a glance

Ulm recruits armoured infantry, crossbowmen and knights. Its national magic is Earth 2, Holy 2 and Fire 1, with Air 1 and Astral 1 as rare paths. Its people are stocky, and its forts give a 25 percent bonus to resources. Its scales allow Productivity and Drain one step further than usual, and its priests are listed as weak inquisitors. The national spells are Iron Darts, Iron Blizzard, Contact Iron Angel and Tempering the Will.

How the nation wins

The line troops are Infantry of Ulm, Black Plate Infantry, Pikeneer and Black Plate Pikeneer. The unit files give the plate versions protection 23 and the chain versions 19. The Crossbowman carries an arbalest, and the Black Knight rides a mount. The Sapper carries a pick axe and a crossbow, and its description says each sapper counts as five besieging soldiers. A besieger’s strength only counts while the army is on the Maintain Siege order, as set out on Siege. The Master Smith is the commander whose description ties him to magic items (Forging).

Early turns

The nation file lists every troop and commander as recruitable at a fort. The War Dog is the cheapest recruit in gold, and the infantry, pikeneers and Crossbowman share one price. Plate versions ask more in resources than chain versions, and the knights more again. Recruitment is limited by gold, resources, recruitment points and commander points (Economy). A fort lifts a province to its full resource potential and draws a share from its neighbours (Forts).

The start site, The Keep of Ulm, lists the Master Mason, Black Priest, Priest Smith and Lord Guardian as home commanders. The Master Mason has the mason ability, which lets a commander build one fort level above the nation’s usual limit (Forts).

Army and commanders

The Commander of Ulm and the Black Lord have leadership 100 in the unit files, and the line troops have leadership 50 on their own cards. The Black Acolyte is a sacred commander with Holy 1 and leadership 10. How leadership limits squads is on Army management. At leadership 100 a commander’s squads gain a point of morale while there are three or fewer, and lose a point each beyond that (Morale). The cards show armour adding to encumbrance, and each attack adds fatigue equal to encumbrance (Fatigue).

Magic and research priorities

The Master Smith has Earth 2 and Fire 1, plus a 20 percent chance of one random extra level in Fire, Air, Earth or Astral. Smiths’ research is not hurt by the Drain scale, and they need fewer gems for items. The Black Halberd is restricted to Ulm, and the Blacksteel Sword is cheaper for Ulm. Both need only Earth 1. Spell research covers the Construction school that unlocks items.

Iron Darts and Iron Blizzard need Earth 1 and Holy 1, Tempering the Will needs Earth 3, and Contact Iron Angel needs Earth 5 and Astral 2. The Black Priest has Earth 1 and Holy 2, and the Priest Smith adds Holy 1 to the smith’s paths. A smith alone casts none of the four.

Pretender ideas

The pretender list includes the Svartalf Mastersmith and the Titan of the Forge; costs are on Pretender design. Ulm’s priests are weak, and Dominion explains how the pretender, temples and priests spread it. Productivity adds 15 percent to resources per click, and each click toward the unfavourable Drain side pays back 40 design points; Drain also takes research points from mages and makes casting more tiring (Scale costs). Ulm’s sacred units are commanders only (the Black Acolyte, Black Priest and Priest Smith), so a bless build (Blesses) has few troops to improve.

Weaknesses and counters

The unit descriptions call Ulmish soldiers large and hardy but vulnerable to magic, and the line troops have magic resistance 9 (the Master Smith 14). Heavy armour adds encumbrance, which feeds fatigue (Fatigue), and a tired unit loses defence. Spells that ignore protection are on Combat magic; Stacking effects covers armour weight and fatigue.

Against which neighbours

The nation file holds no data on neighbours, so the plain text can say only that they are decided by the map.