Light Infantry... what the ****

[Wendigo]

I'd assumed that Huskarls were move-1 for some reason. They're as well equipped as LI comes, especially considering that Hirdman are IMHO subpar HI.

I actually like the hirdmen for default Vanheim. They are my 'center of the line' troop of choice when facing Ermorian hordes for example, and they specifically shine for default Van when combined with the supberb Dwarf support mages.

With dwarf backup, a hirdman becomes a pretty respectable force with Legions of steel + Strength of giants (18 prot, 14? st+ broadsword damage)...perfectly capable of standing vs any other HI, and being MI esentially the hirdman has the bonus of decent defense & encumbrance.
If you cast also Destruction on the enemy line, your cheap & humble hirdmen will easily chew up even elite Emerald guards.

This doesn't mean I do not use the supberb einheres however, but rather field them as shock troops...in fact, Vanheim is the nation with the most flexible troop choice IMO, at least for my playing style.

Do you find the (strat-2) skinshifters usefull? They look weak to me, but I haven't tried them.

The weakest of the lot IMO for Van, and the only one I hardly field.
I can only find 2 circunstances where I would field them:
-With strong magical support (marble warriors and/or fog warriors), so that they suffer little damage that their regen could make up for.

-If my offensive armies are being nuked by MW/FFS, shapeshifting would likely allow them to survive when the other Van inf would just die.

Still, these are pretty specialized uses for an overpriced troop type.