In hindsight, B9 was probably not worth it. The blood vengeance did help to kill some chaff faster, but the only really useful application of it was when you started casting wrathful skies(or whatever it's called) in battle.
Branching into blood is always tempting with monkeys, but by the time I started blood hunting the show was practically over.
So yeah, better scales(I was rarely able to recruit, and was broke for the last year), or something like D9(undying having nice synergy with N9's HP and regen) would probably be a better choice.
And it took me so long to attack you, Darkwind, because I was ridiculously wishy-washy about choosing between the two undead hordes around me. I knew I could only fight one of you, and the proximity meant that I'd be wide open for an attack from the other one while my armies were away.
The end result was too much waiting and too little proactive invading.
Still, turns out monkeys are really good at anti-undead operations. Took me a bit too long to realise that a bunch of Yogis in a communion casting Solar Rays are more versatile and a better use of resources than recruiting hordes of Brahmins.
Never did manage to throw together a SC or even a proper thug. Without access to brazen shields, it seemed like a waste of resources in the light of constantly looming Vengeance of the Dead(I never had much luck punching through MR with it in dom3, so I wasn't expecting it being such a nuisance - what with all those rishis and celestials having high resistance).
Anyway, good game guys! Definitely strained me old brains on this one.
I really should be going now