Either I am missing something, or those unit buffing city buffs aren't working.  Supposeldy You should get +1 DEF per essence, for example.  I had 3 essence in the town...nuthin@

Edit: Ok, after checking again, I definitely see the fire from "Heart of Fire."   And actually, I the three defense I am supposed to get might be there, but hard as hell to check.  The super basic unit are shoing a 3 "Base Value" defense, which I thought they were zero defense units.  So I guess my complaint would be it doesn't specify that, the "Aura of Might" spell, which is +1 Defense per essence to units trained in that city, as coming from the Aura of Might.  It may be simply showing (on the mouse over) as "base defense."  Thus, I thought it isn't working.