>>2010043
>spell tempered shields
Not good enough
>superior archer units?
Skipped Winds tome for Summoning tome to boost astral affinity.

Anyways I won the game by letting them go and having my five empire ordertide allies handle them while I went south and conquered the highest economic empire with a very shitty military score. And then when one of my allies went for expansionist victory with allied victory off, I went and conquered him too so I could score expansionist victory myself.