Post your high scores here!

[Calinda]

Mhm, minimize your time loss when you travel, also minimize time between battles (i.e. try to finish them with as much mana/rage as possible, so you are virtually ready for the next one), and do not wander around aimlessly ...
Dunno if I had luck with items, but telescopic sight at Kordar, and two dragon slayer swords before clearing Demonis, were the key items for me. Also I got that ring that increases intellect permanently after 20 or so battles from the zombie at the cemetery.
Tactics Treatise (can't remember where I got it exactly, but it was somewhere in the marsh), helped for XP from early on, but went to terrible morale at the end of starting continent. I managed to suppress it after I collected the leadership flags from the isles of freedom. I also tried to pick the XP talents as earlier as possible.
Another thing that I did, was playing with items that lose morale (king's hammer for example with no dwarves in the army, and note that reserves do count in this; jackboots, tactics treatise, steam armor, dragon slayer swords), so I got some extra XP from several suppressions.