[DrPraetorious]

Van has a powerful strategy, and there's no denying that it has a powerful strategy which is -
1 - Fast
and
2 - Easy to use.

Likewise Abyssia and the other heims.

If you go up against an experienced Sauromatia player, you'd better have a very strong strategy against Sauromatia, or you're in deep trouble.

Likewise for any other strong nation - if there are nations that don't have this property, then those nations are underpowered, and need to be buffed up somehow. Having only played a fraction of the positions seriously, I'm not sure which those are (people gripe about Oceania a lot.)

Now, the *heims and EA Abyssia have an easier time getting their nasty funk in gear, so they have significant advantages, especially on smaller maps, or with people who don't like to manage complicated strategies or field skirmishers.

But if you nerf them appreciably, they're useless. They don't get an early surge of face-hugging, and their magic is mediocre (except for Niefelheim.)