Vitek: You can also use various shops to repair your equipment. They are randomly spread all over the map and are marked by sign post if you have it enabled, but it takes 1 turn to repair items, as you have to enter them as any other location.
shops also charge double to repair your items then your own artisans do.
Jabarto: You may already know this, but you can also recruit units in province that has a fort, and access your spells in a province with a library. I like to make "supply depot" provinces with outposts, storehouses, and libraries at regular intervals from my demesne so I can keep my heroes near the front line during a war.
You say it like this is an optional thing :P.
Making such supply depo provinces is absolutely essential to every strategy.
Although personally I omit the libraries from most supply depo locations.