Tir na n'Og

[Festin]

Tir na n'Og have Tuatha Sorceress - very powerful cap-only air mages(A3N2 by default, 1/4 will have A4, and even A5 is possible), so instead of thugs I would recruit one each turn and go straight for Thunderstrike(they have good research too). Good synergy with earth bless and national reinvigorating spell songs. Several of them behind a Firbolg screen would solve most of your problems, I think. You do not have any archers, so Storm will work perfectly for them later on. They are also sacred, stealthy, have glamour, darkvision, forest survival, earth and water randoms and do not age. They cost 360 gold, so you will probably want to avoid very bad scales.