Using your pretender early: How?

[PvK]

I think bless seems to work so well especially to new players partly because it is very simple to use.

An equally simple awake pretender strategy is the supercombattant. It's even easier if a player with experience tells you some things which are known to work well, though it might be more fun and interesting (or frustrating, depending on your personal philosophy and tastes), to try your own ideas.

An important thing to remember though is that bad luck happens to everyone, so you can't rely on even the best SC not getting killed or (worse) crippled sometimes - be prepared to ressurrect them, heal them, and/or live without them.

But basically you design someone who can take provinces unaided, or nearly-unaided, without much or any research, and send them against provinces you're pretty sure they can beat, which can double your early expansion rate, since your army can be taking different provinces at the same time.

PvK