so far the only way I've been able to win in battle is to basically Stack the war blessing and get a large enough population to out number the enemy. Unfortunately this basically means that I'm either losing cows to temple upkeep or losing them to raider.

What's a good strategy for battle? especially in the beginning when I lack both the population or the temple to have a mighty army?

Battle is never a sure thing, and quite possibly the best advice is not to raid. There are definitely reasons to, but it really doesn’t help you accomplish your goal of politically unifying the clans of Dragon Pass.

If you are being raided too often, perhaps it is because you raided too often and it’s retaliation. Or you have otherwise made too many enemies. Again, having friendly clans is your goal, and than will reduce the odds of being raided.

War magic during Sacred Time and combat blessings all do help, of course.

Sacred-time war magic and many weaponsthanes help. But it's costly, especially at the start of the game. A good warleader helps too.
The more you raid in a year, the more difficult it will be : wounded soldiers, weakening magic, irritated neighbors... If you want to raid more than once per year, you will need to be much stronger than your enemy. If your clan is tired, a nice cattle raid is a far safer option.
After some time, if your clan is successful, it will become easier. But early, it's tricky.

That said, losing is not a tragedy. You will lose many battles, and your clan will survive, thrive even. Orlanthi villagers are HARDY!

thanks for the advice.

I tried making a peace clan and generally avoid launching raid, but even then the weaponthanes get moody after a while. As far as I tell, cattle raid doesn't renew your war magic either. You need a full proper raid or else your war magic will atrophy .

If I'm raiding, is it better to send in the full army, keeping enough to prevent opportunist cattle raider, or send in a small detachment in hopes of sneaking past their patrol? Normally when I raiding I sent in nearly everyone and use lighting+woad+shield to wear down the clan until they agree to a tribute.

A large group is better for general raiding if you're aiming to cause damage, since the defenders WILL be mobilized against you. If you want to cattle raid then a small group is much more effective since they actually can get in and out without being caught (potentially).

I usually use the strategy of picking one clan that already hates me, and making them my punching bag. Then I make friends with everyone else.

Pre-battle orders have a big effect on the outcome, too. Your enemies like to use certain tactics over and over again, and if you can predict what they're going to do you can use a counter tactic to trump them. If they're going to be sacrificing, rush them. If they're going to charge right in, ambush them.

You'll usually lose raids early on, especially if you're a peace clan, because your clan magic is small and you don't have enough warriors. Some tips for winning battles successfully:

- In the beginning of the game, don't raid more than once every 3 years, especially if you're a peace clan. You shouldn't really raid the first three years at all, but focus on building up your weaponthanes and defences.

- Put most of your weaponthanes into patroling the outer ring, not the inner one, because that's where they'll spot raiders. Make sure to check your patrols every fire season, because explorers and traders will take weaponthanes away from patrols and they aren't automatically put back when they return.

- Have a good supply of hunters (30+) because they also spot raiders and they're useful in battle.

- Raid as little as possible. IMO, you should only raid when your battle magic starts to become ineffective.

- Make allies with everyone surrounding your tula. They'll sometimes warn you when someone is invading. They're also the ones most likely to raid you and it'll dramatically reduce the likelihood of that. End any feuds as soon as possible.

- The handiest battle sacrifices are the Humakt ones, so concentrate on those early on, especially Truesword. When you can afford it get the sacrifices that reduce deaths among your weaponthanes and farmers, because then even if you lose raids it's not too big of a deal.

- The best sacrifices for protecting your tula are Fyrdwomen and Watchfulness.

- Always sacrifice to Humakt before a battle unless you're going to evade. His sacrifices seem to be more effective than sacrifices to Orlanth. If evade is your battle strategy, sacrifice to Orlanth or don't sacrifice at all.

- The Humakt heroquest really helps with winning battles early on, and has some good treasures that can turn the tide of battle.

- The ideal amount of magic to put towards a battle is about 5, but you won't have this much until late in the game. Put as much as you reasonably can towards it (1-3 points), because magic does have an effect on the outcome of the battle.

- If you're the one doing the raiding, go during storm season, not during fire season. Other clans expect raids during fire season, but you can often surprise them during storm season.

- Adapt your strategy to how many people you're facing. Charge is the worst strategy in my opinion, maneuver is the best. Maneuver will work most of the time. But if you're massively outnumbered, use skirmish. If you're trying to do a cattle raid and get spotted, use survival & evade unless you have more troops than they do.

Even with all the sacrifices and treasures and lots of weaponthanes and footmen, you will still lose battles about 1/2-1/3 of the time. That's just the way of the game. Rebuild your herds through trading, favours and questing, and the occasional cattle raid.