Nice build.  Not sure if it's really more OP than some other strategies, but a nice synergy. 

I think the Maul ability is ridiculous and should be modified.  At minimum, it should be limited to a few extra strikes instead of the chance to deal huge damage over and over based on a percentage.  If not that, then the maximum damage of each successive landed strike should be reduced by a significant percentage.  When a Maul unit gets lucky and kills an important unit of mine, it feels cheap.  When I have a Maul unit of my own and kill something like the OP stated, it feels cheap.  This should be changed.

The maul mechanism is cool, but it's obviously impossible to balance.  As the case the OP makes, you can end up with three bears beating a dragon to death without the dragon getting a word in edgewise.  Kinda ridiculous.

I would suggest changing the mechanism to being:

Maul => after a successful attack, you get one extra strike which if it lands, debuffs the defender's initiative for one turn and has a chance to stun.  With such an attack, a bear would still be able (with luck) to successively maul a unit, but it wouldn't be able to do 60-100+ damage in a turn.

The added benefit is that this formulation is a lot easier to balance.

yeah, maul needs a bit of work.

the suggestions above are a decent way to get it back in balance.

Start with 'you can't maul anything bigger than you', then add 'can't maul anything that can't be knocked prone'. 

The above means getting to horses for units, but that should more than cover it for the early game.  After that, a damage reduction per maul strike (% damage lost/strike) can work. 

And continuing a maul from a backswing should be stopped.  Plus, swarm should not be triggered on a maul (first hit yes, but not the maul bonus hits).

My level 8 cave bear almost never gets more than 4 hits and most frequently only 1 or 2 before a unit dodges.  Even my tamed Juggernaut (thank you Azure Collar Quest!)  rarely lands more than 3-4 in a row although his splash damage is zomg.  

I always try to use high dodge/high init units versus a mauling creature and hope for the best.  

There are counter-measures in the game mechanics already, use them to nerf a dangerous ability.

Procipinee's Crown is OP with a Summoner profession, or if you decide to build a tank sov and buff him/her.  

Just like MOM some builds are better than others, and we can try them out and see what fits our playstyle.

Exactly!  Now Pony Cavalry Commander... that ability is totally OP!

So is shrink, so is stun or slow, so is 100% fire resistance. Stack all of these together and they are effective tactics against dragons and other fearsome beasts.  So is a critical strike from an Assassin with a Boreal blade.  Or Fracture and Web...

More choices and paths to an end = more fun and replayability. 

Is it wrong, that now I want bears as mounts...

On fixing Maul, I like the above suggestion of it simply applying initiative damage to the defending unit on top of maybe a second attack. I kinda like the idea of Maul being an active ability, rather than a passive trait, that allows a unit to use it's counterattacks for additional strikes. Possibly with the perk that enemies that are immune to counterattack, like spearmen, are immune to maul as well.

EDIT: actually a major thing up front, probably, should be to remove swarm from Maul completely. So if a unit has maul, they can't benefit from swarming bonuses.

just tried it.

O.

P.

(now i wanna try with other mean animals)

Tame Beast can be resisted, though.  On the higher difficulties, using it is like gambling.

I agree that Maul should have a hit limit.  I hate when I start combat and a bear just runs up to one of my guys who's at full health and hits him 8 times, killing him, before I even got a move in.

Mate, I'm pretty sure Impulsive doesn't exist anymore. It's not in Champion selection or any level-up table that I could see.

Oh, noes. My strategy is broken in latest patch. Now Cave Bears have HORNS and I just can't bear these ugly creatures in every combat!  :'(

Seems like a cool strategy, I had never considered it before.

And the ideas above are good......maybe the bears could have a chance of self damage for long strings of mauls?