First up, about Sacrifice; You are using it exactly right. The idea IS to make a 5/14 stack of Royal Thorns to 14/14 for free and when they are not available anywhere else on the map
. And yeah, there is no point in increasing them beyond your leadership - just focus on the next troop you want to raise numbers of
.
Secondly, The Banner of True Faith sounds AWESOME. Where did you get to pick it up from?
Will post again on my progress in a bit.