[Quitti]

Heh, I should've attacked Shin the second I got a border with them. Even refused to sign a NAP with them to keep opportunities open - but unfortunately I was on my way to start a war with Jotunheim - should've paid more attention to graphs at that point. I never even did get the chance to break the NAP with Jotunheim - I was still building army for that moment, and getting holy pyre (and other evocations) researched in case their master lich would've provided some nasty skeletal surprises. And then came BoT, which really hurt us - all mages of ma marig are old age (except for f1 nonsacred somewhat useless ones). Actually I think I had only one commander without afflictions in the force I was gathering to shin's border (After giving up on the Jotunheim part and seeing that shin was such a threat).

It really sounds like you had the ultimate starting position - 5 out of 6 with 10k pop is insane. It would provide the fuel for the rest of the game. All I had was some random forests :/