[CayseP]

I second fire 9. It is both thematic and allows your pretender to be a holy burninator from day 1 with the "Holy Pyre" spell. Then I usually split my troops up into either x-bow/magic ranged squads or pike/flaggelant/chalice mêlée squads. Because you have access to elite intelligence gatheres, it is (mostly) easy to pick the fights best suited for the specific type of troops...