Pressure Point

The key to pressure point is the initial 5 minutes in the opening of the game. If you lose out in the wildmen stakes then you are a goner, that is unless you are very skilled at defence, and keeping the enemy attacks limited and restricted until you are able to build enough to gain the same population level as them.

Its important to click off the blast spell immediately :) if u didn't already do that, u should, every level :) Right, if you're going to have any chance whatsoever you are going to need at the very least to have converted over 30 wildmen in the opening 2 minutes. If you haven't, then scan the map in world view VERY quickly to find some wildies and get them. An ideal start would see you getting around 50+ wildmen. Once you've finished converting turn blast on (leave convert on incase you see any stray wildies), then start charging ghost, swarm and Esq simultaneously.

At the start move your shaman immediately to the thin stretch of land where you feel most vulnerable - convert all the wildmen from here, then get the wilds on the central stretch, next go for the wilds on the flank you feel most comfortable with, then there should be a few more wildies hiding at the back of your territory. Whilst converting lay a preacher and fw hut and send about 60% of your men to build these, then lay about 3 huts and send 1 man to build each of these huts, then lay 4 towers around the entrances to your base, send 1 man to build each of these, and keep a lookout for rushing shaman - try to blast them into the water, then you can counter-shaman rush them (that's perhaps the most amusing tactic, especially when they bitch afterwards about being rushed.. gotta love those hypocrites). Once the trainers are built train 5 fw and 1 preacher. Get these in the towers, especially the preacher if you are being rushed by troops.

Then begin to build up your base, placing as many hut plans as possible, sending 1 (or two, depending on your preference, I'm a slow converter, so I normally have to delegate the building to maintain speed with the opposition) man to build each hut. At this point (about 5 min's into the game) you will want to expand your defence's, the most effective way to do this is to build towers down the thin stretches of land linking you to your enemy, another good defence is to dominate the centre head. You can build towers on here if you like but personally I prefer to place warriors and preachers on guard mode around the bottom step, and then cover it in firewarriors on the upper levels - this may seem vulnerable to firestorm, but usually it works quite effectively, and think of the mana cost - a few troops against a whole firestorm!

Once you have an eq charged (3 min's if you are top player speed, 6 min's if you are slower) send your shaman to the enemy base and quake away! If their base is well fortified with towers or troop defence then use ghosts and swarm to distract the enemy defenders, once they are distracted try to penetrate as far into the base as possible, and damage the huts of the enemy - this will hinder their mana production, and will be more harmful than merely quaking a few towers to upset their perfectly placed defensive set up.

If the game develops into a very long one then be prepared to be always repairing your defence and being hard pressed at times. Remember though, this is no definitive guide and will not necessarily bring success, often you must develop other strategies on pp to defeat your opponent (namely through the 'back bridge' if it is a stalemate style of game).