The truth is, you''re approaching the game wrong.

Good wizard an commander starts are fairly difficult. Also, I assume you're either not using a box of swordsmen (or barbarians, or brigands if playing evil) and you possibly mismanage money too.

II is most important to kickstart your army before anything else - don't waste your money on anything you don't currently need and don't be afraid of NEGATIVE 30+ upkeep. Also, I strongly suggest a healer ASAP as third unit (you should be able to fight a few battles against weak enemies till you build his dwelling).


Swordsmen should almost never attack. They have great defense and counterattack values while defending, while attacking makes them lose their Parry advantage and hurts them a lot.

Barbarians have berserk, meaning that they are able to do loads of damage when injured. With them, you should almost always attack, well, it's wise to let most enemies approach you tho while you're in safety of healers.

Brigands are a dozen for a dime units. They're there to soak damage and die. Just make sure your hero gets the kills for maximum exp to him, since you'll be losing a LOT of them and it is unwise to let them get any exp at all.

Good luck.

IIRC the campaign starts off at a lower difficulty then what you choose, and then ramps up to a higher difficulty then what you chose.

Yup, I noted that the 2nd and 3rd circle independents are tougher now (20-30 shards into the campaign) than they were at the beginning. They number gets up, they have more tier 2-3 troops...
Also, the rival lords get tougher, too. They were "beginner" on the first few shards, and they are now "competent"

So yes, there is a progression in the difficulty level of the campaign. Which is cool : I play on beginner, and this evolution gives some challenge and prevents the game from getting boring. :)