Re: Tips for Vanheim
 

Using air gems for owl quills instead of transport / combat magic is a shameful waste of a precious resource.

Vanjarls with Golden Shields can spam Shockwave to devastating effect. In basically the same way as Eagle Kings can spam it. And they can cloud trap as well, of course.

Re: Tips for Vanheim
 

You are free to not doing it, of course. At the same time, there was a game where my Helheim was second in research due to them... ;)
Of course, a mobility in mid-to-late game is very important. But it doesn't matter that you have gems for Trapeze if you hadn't researched it in time...

Yes. I even think they can spam it without those shields. :) And they are also relatively good thugs if armed with Brands instead (by the way, this is one of the reasons I think Water path is quite useful for these nations in early-mid game).

Considering a question about cheap SC Pretender - I think it should be stressed that they are CHEAP. Meaning - this is mainly a scales strategy made possible by Heims excellent non-sacred troops with strong combat mages. The thing is it's risky as you depend on independents for magic diversity. On the other hand taking a Rainbow Pretender is risky as you could be rushed. I think that latter risk is smaller as you have strong normal troops which can both withstand many things face-to-face and raid an opponent with too strong an army. Still, it depends on map and opposition...