[MaxWilson]

IIRC winning a battle is worth 4 xp (1 for being in a battle, 4 for winning a battle), so the skull is like winning a battle every turn. The problem is that every time you "hit" in a battle, it's worth 1 xp, so thugs tend to ratchet up experience quickly and don't need the skull, while armies don't benefit from the skull. It's a bit of a puzzle how to use the skull effectively. I guess it might be nice to let newly-born thugs start their first battle with 1 star instead of 0. 2 stars would take about 15 turns, which IMHO isn't really worth it. Even at +5 per turn it probably wouldn't be worth the wait except in peacetime.

-Max