Vanhiem - Looking for a little more help

[archaeolept]

van's troops are strong enough that you do not need to play them w/ a bless; in this case, i think probably huskarls and skinshifters, as you can go for sloth then.

you could try a classic SC - say an almost over the top Allfather, 3f 4a 4e 4d
fire gives you fireshield, fire resist, phoenix pyre
air gives you airshield, resist lightning, mirror image, mistform
earth, summon earthpower, ironskin/invulnerability
death - soul vortex

Mix and match as the situation, and your research, demands.
first go for alteration 3 and enchantment 1

scales w/ that build are mausoleum, dominion 8, order 3 sloth 2 cold 2 death 2 misfortune 2 magic 3. They're not great scales, but they get the job done.

Another way to play them w/out any bless is to go for midheim, and etherealize your skinshifters w/ your volvas. a small force of these guys will make mincemeat of almost anything - the problem is one of organization (the volvas have only one strat move and no leadership, and you need to know how to organize some protective/picket arrow catchers).

The attraction of the uber-bless is that incredibly small forces of F9W9 vans can deal w/ most indies, and they are the game's most fearsome recruitable raiders. However, due to how bad the scales have to be, i'm not sure they're quite economical anymore w/ the balance mod.