[Dragar]

I'm playing Utgard in a couple of games atm with an E9N8 build, similar build orders should apply

Troop wise go for Woodsmen each turn. They are cheap on resources so it's easy to get numbers out, and they are very effective at early expansion. Their being cap only, their main limitation, is irrelevant in the early turns.

My typical start:

Turn 1:
• Recruit skratti
• Recruit as many woodsmen as possible
• Scout goes scouting
• Research to evoc
• Commander patrols, tax to 130%

Turn 2
• Make skratti prophet
• Recruit seithkona
• Recruit more woodsmen

Turn 3
• Skratti and commander take your troops out expanding
• Recruit seithkona

Keep going like this, recruiting seithkona each turn until you can afford norna, then switch to them. Somewhere in the first bunch of turns recruit a skratti to site search water manually to get you primed.

When you have enough woodsmen for another expansion party recruit a Jotun Jarl to lead them, rinse and repeat and your expansion will be pretty quick. Any excess resources go for a jotun hirdmen, spearman or maybe javelinists.

When you hit evoc 2, set a seithkona casting arcane probing and switch to thaumaturgy. When you hit Thaum 2 set an N2 norna to cast haruspex, then switch to conjuration up to 3 for dark knowledge and then voice of apsu. Then probably alteration to 3 for quickness and body ethereal, and then head down construction, hopefully with a nicely growing gem income to fund your equipping of thugs.

Try and get a fortress and lab up as early as you can, seithkona are awesome researchers.

You have the power for an early rush if you find a suitable opponent nearby, the woodsmen are very tough. Using the water bless try and keep them in big groups against decent early armies, they should have the power to obliterate almost anything, but if you get dragged into a prolonged conflict with smaller groups of woodsmen the fatigue will get you.