I unwittingly chose the 'ironman' setting when I started my game, because it's worded kind of oddly (realistic style), so I've been having to make due with out being able to use save games, and I think it's pretty well done for an ironman mode. I don't know if you can truly 'die' but I got trounced in battle by a rival lord, knocked out, and taken prisoner, and in the process I lost my horse and the entirety of my party that I had spent the previous month building up. eventually I escaped after they had trucked me half way across the map, but I was alone on foot, and had to again start building up my party from scratch.