First newbie game: first impressions!!!

[Arryn]

lillumultipass said:
I find it hard to know when I have enough firepower to win a battle...with Jotunheim I knew I could win all battles versus independents...but here...

I assure you that if you set indy strength to 7+ (perhaps even as low as 5-6) you won't win all indy battles using Jotuns. Not unless you prepare carefully to counter the troop types that the indies have. The ability of even a large bunch of Jotuns outnumbered 2:1 or more by indy knights (a common ratio in the early to mid game) is by no means certain without strong magical support (or help from a SC pretender). You can also have a great deal of trouble with large amazon Groups, non-human special troops, massed archers, and hordes of small creatures that can swarm your giants and inflict many small wounds. Large numbers of small wounds may not kill your troops, but they'll rout and you'll lose the battle.