[Groundhog]

Been playing the hell out of this lately - keeps getting better and better each update. I'm at day 149 with my latest crew, and I don't know if it's just bad luck, but any time I send out more than 9 guys the game seems to ramp up the difficulty and I lose 1 or 2 brothers (generally without recouping their expensive armour and/or arms).

I've had my crew nearly wiped a few times - down to 3 or 4 - but managed to claw my way back by trading between cities ala Mount & Blade, which I've never really focused on before in this game.

My current fitout is 1 archer - I'm beginning to wonder if they are a waste, tbh, as they only seem useful to hit a couple of lucky shots before the h2h starts - 2 billhooks, and everyone else with the strongest one-handed weapon I can find, and a good alternative to that in reserve (ie. the best shield-breaking axe I can afford if the primary weapon isn't an axe). Everyone except my archer is in 210 minimum armour with the best helms I can afford, so fatigue becomes an issue for me after a few rounds, but keeping my guys alive is always my focus.

With that in mind, for skills my frontline h2h guys I focus on the middle tree to keep my guys alive, and once I've picked up one of the highest-tier skills in that tree, I move onto the offensive skills. With the billhook guys I focus on the offensive categories first and try to keep them away from base-to-base combat when possible.

Desperately mob-attacking an orc bezerker only to have it make it through your final attack of the turn with no armour or HPs is a terrifying experience... I've covered my eyes a few times when my best soldier is in h2h with one, because any hit can be a decapitation.