Maybe "Apprentice" was the wrong word. We are using the full spellbooks. You know, the ones with the conjurations in them such as Battle Forge and Pentagram that are listed in the back of the rulebook. We love the game and want to play the full game but don't know it well enough to build our own books, so we are using the preconstructed ones. We also don't enjoy building books, at least not yet. This may be connected to our limited knowledge of the spells and the game.
I'm hearing that it's best just to try things out rather than seek help on the strategy forums. Probably good advice, but my opportunities to play are very limited, so in the mean time I've been trying to formulate a plan at least going into the game. This is because from the very few times I have played I have noticed that going in without a plan can leave your actions disjointed and your mana totals off by one! So I wanted to at least have a framework for my first few turns and an idea of how I would kill my opponent.
In the games we have played so far (one Beastmaster vs. Priestess, one Beastmaster vs. Warlock) my opponent went heavy on Mana Flowers and Lair, trying to build up an advantage over time. He was always playing the long game with buffs like Regenerate. So I have not yet had to deal with an overly aggressive Beastmaster.
