Ah yes - the myrran, alchemy, warlord, channeler, famous, charismatic setup. This is the hardest setup, I think. I won a game with the trolls after 3 losses, lost 3 or 4 with beastmen, and Im now going for the draconian. And its a bitch.
The problem with the trolls was movement, and with the dracos its a lack of melee power - when you have no spells you gain a new respect for some previously easy foes (like earth elementals). Ranged units are key, as are pathfinding/mountaineer/wind walk heroes. Taking nodes/lairs/ruins is harder of course, but not that much. Fighting a wizard with 150+ skill is a hateful affair however. Have never lost so many games as with this setup, so its a blast for me. I keep thinking if I can just find ONE book in time, then I will rule like a god, but it hasnt happened yet - I keep finding all the arcane spells in lairs too fast, so am forced to research the SOM, and THEN i find a book - arrggghhh. Great setup for the strategic side of play though - terrain becomes much more important, as does everything that affects your troops (deposits, food, corruption, etc) - since you will have ONLY regular troops. Draco bowmen + drakes seem to be working so far, but I thought that about minotaurs/preists and they failed me miserably. One thing is for sure - you will be USING heroes in this setup, as they are the only way to cast spells and improve movement. Too bad you cannot protect them from enemy wizards (bring shamans and priests for the AI to kill , or kiss that hero goodbye). Different kind of game - very hard to predict fights with other wizards when you have no magic......
Edit: Much easier when you refrain from taking any ruins and instead just
grind the nodes down with halberdiers/bowmen (takes a lot of em though ). With all those retorts, once you get any books at all you become a deadly force. I read where Implode said he just built 9 war trolls and never lost a fight - I have not found this to be the usual case. Paladins and griffins murder them, and elite pikemen are actually an even fight vs elite war trolls. The AI makes a lot of pikemen. Iron Nature nodes are definitely the easiest (no flyers usually), and of course the sky drakes are the worst, but as long as you get an armsmaster hero (so you can quickly level up your troops to ultra-elite), you can piecemeal-kill about anything. Draconians are definitely the easiest race for this - not only the movement but the ability to hit drakes with cheap foot troops is priceless. 3 ultra-elite doom drakes or halberdiers can take a drake (usually), so figure a couple stacks for the average sorcery node. Fun game type, very different from the usual. Defending cities is the hardest part, since the AI can send just a couple units and flamestrike/call lightning/confusion/wrack your entire garrison to death without breaking a sweat. You will fear the chaos wizards o yes....
No books
Re: No books
I know I'm replying to an old post, but it has inspired me to try the "no books" mode. We'll see how it goes.
Re: No books
Wait, how are pikemen ever a threat to war trolls? The trick with trolls is to run away and regenerate whenever you get into trouble. You can do this even with basic units, but double-moving war trolls make it effortless. Pikemen shouldn't stand a chance. Paladin can be a pain, but you should be able to eat them too. Just make sure you attack them to avoid first strike. If needed, retreat to heal - they're no faster than war trolls. Personally, I tend to crush the computer whenever I get access to war trolls. It usually doesn't even take a full stack. And a fleet of airships can be even more effective. Have you even tried that? Not many enemy capitals can resist. That much flying firepower will wear them down eventually.
Re: No books
I tried no books plus trolls again and had similar success to what I remembered. The two troll units you start with can conquer many neutral cities by themselves.