I need some advise on conquering barbarian provinces - especially at the start!

Normally I can conquer a province with 2 barbarians + 1 shaman (especially easy if there's some rough terrain to prevent the barbarians ganging up on the same unit)! I usually take Scout with 3 swordsman.

The problem arises when I get 3 barbarian + 1 shaman. I normally lose a unit then, especially on plains. This is at early stages; I can do this at 30+ turn easily as by then I usually have Scouting level 2 (drain stamina at start) along with spells - fatigue or slow. Obviously high levels (and corresponding promotions) on the swordsman and healer are very helpful!

But I have started games where I had only barbarian provinces surrounding the Capitol. At expert level, there isn't enough gold to keep replacing swordsman (pretty expensive when you don't have gold).

BTW I quit that game, but really interested in viable strategies. I normally find thugs and barbarian units to be the toughest units in the early stages!

First of all I'd recommend swapping out one of your swordsmen with a crossbowman; this is because right at the beginning a scout can't take out a barbarian in a single turn, which means your swordsmen will have to go on the offensive if you don't want berserked barbarians beating on them, and that typically results in them taking more damage than they would if they remained purely defensive. Initial placement of your units is quite important, as you'll want to make good use of any rough terrain to slow down the barbarians and prevent them from easily flanking you. Also try to position your scout to take out the shaman as quickly as possible, ideally one-shotting the shaman in the first round (both to prevent damage to your swordsman, and to keep them from cursing too many of your units). When taking out the barbarians, focus on one at a time to prevent getting attacked by a berserked barbarian on the next turn. Ranged attacks from your scout and crossbowman, followed up with an attack by a swordsman (if necessary) can usually take out a barbarian in a single turn without taking any counter-attacks. Basically as long as you can deal with the shaman quickly before the barbarians reach you then take out any berserked barbarians before they can attack then you should be able to get through the battles without losing any of your swordsmen.

I had thought about it but was hoping for an alternate solution - barbarians would be ideal in this case but I prefer the Swordsman for late game. I have had cases where I have level 30 hero running around with level 20 swordsman; they can actually take on level 2 and most level 3 units defensively!

@DarrkPhoenix

At expert difficulty the starting money is just sufficient to get swordsman building; I definitely cannot afford crossbows.

BTW, the difficulty also affects HP. So one-shot kills on shaman are not doable unless the Scout hero starts with Archery as a skill! Same for the barbarians - 20 hp cannot be overcome by the fresh swordsman and starting Scout.

You can still build swordsmen after the initial onslaught. Or you could raid some locations before attacking the provinces to try to get more gold and crystals for the web spell. With that you might be able to neutralize the third barbarian before he kills the swordsman you otherwise lose.

Not a 100% sure these would work, its been a few weeks since I played, but I used to do expert and master. Also I never encountered more than 2 or 3 barbarian provinces in the first ring on the roughly 150 shards I played. Overall I would say that the first barb/brig then swordsmen tactic is safer, if not very efficient.
If we are lucky Gremlion will see this and tell us how the russian grandmasters do it on overlord difficulty.

Yep... I simply was trying to avoid 'wasting' a building on other units. I normally have swordsmen, healer, bowmen and crossbowmen structures (unless I get alliance with elves).

Overlord ... I don't think I can even think about that level! +45% HP on enemy units would probably make most of my current tactics useless; probably need to know the game inside out to play at that level.