Bah, Aurvandil is a just a big misunderstood teddy bear! Everyone else seems to piss it off. I've had nothing but friendly discourses with them.
And yeah, starvation plus angry ugly midgets throwing coins on atlatls was a potent combination. I lost most of my men due to be trampled after they fell off their horses laughing, and then the horses joined in with a chuckle and killed most of them off with their shiny armor-shod legs and hooves. The horses survived to a man though, so well done Solarian armorers!