Thanks for the thoughts razor. Just made it to freedom and haven't found a stack of horsemen yet. Besides I'm enjoy the three slower melee.
The swords have a move of 3 and the bears/werewolves can increase they're speed for the round of engagement so things have been working out very well.
I used the have a dragonfly or griffin as a fast troop but I always found I sent him out into enemy territory and he got beat down quite a bit.
