Man/Lot Marignon Tien Chi Ulm/BF are my fav Nations. I am a noob, currently in my first three MP games and another 2v2 game, and was knocked out of my fourth first mp game by vanhiem, in thirty turns.

Man is amazing. Bard+Monk+Lord Warden+Warden +N9+GoH. Bards can cast song of relief just put him near the wardens the wardens have N9 and a huge boost in hp from GoH. Cause you have already spammed temples in your provinces. And already have had your other monks preaching in your enemies provinces and bards unresting their capitals. With all your bards/monks you can find weakly defended provinces and spam call of the wild. Once you capture the province pump up taxes if you dont think you can keep.Call of the winds makes great patrollers. They also make great mage killers. With a n9 pretender you can cast lots of good Conj Spells. And you can also easily spam Hauraspex/Wind searching thing in all your provinces.

Lot. Have you ever seen Cu Sidhe(the wolf ones right?) with a n9 blessing. Early on a squad of them slice right through level 9 Independents. Research will be a problem but hopefully you will find a sage site.