[Festin]

I have played as TNN once in MP (vanilla), and performed reasonably well. My solution to the rush problem was hiring a Sorceress every turn and going directly for Thunderstrike. I think you can hit it before most nations can rush you. Meanwhile, it is entirely possible to have a decent expansion using firbolgs. They are good, but you will lose at least 1-2 solders on almost every type of indies, so be prepared to reinforce the expansion party.