Eriu guide

[LDiCesare]

ComTrav said:
Superficially, Eriu has a lot in common with Vanheim (air magic, glamour, recruitable thugs)

I don't think so. Glamour for Vanheim is more widely available than for Eriu, where it's limited to commanders and capital only troops.
I certainly don't play Eriu well, but their having to rely on indeps to do any kind of research certainly takes most fun out of them for me. They are really bad at research, even when you try to give them owl quills, which is the only thing they can forge to help research.
As for Fir bolgs, it should be noted they cost 13 gold, which is still a bit expensive for what they are worth. With the cost of Tuathas, fielding an army of any size is quite hard imo, and research is poor.

I believe a surprise attack with sneaky leaders can be nice, particularly if you coordinate a lot of attacks at once, but I can't see how you can build enough units and research to get it to work without being attacked by someone first. You certainly need to be good/lucky in diplomacy to be able to pull this out.