Stefan can be sent left with another squad to take out the horse archers in the woods and then ambush the other cavalry when they ride north. Send one squad to the right to take the objectives there and the rest should go towards the right center bridge to meet the south central enemy forces.

Kuroda’s squad south of the left center bridge is quite the threat, but you can delay going after him until you clear out the rest of the enemies. Cavalry charges and shuffling infantry into range to attack him on player phase will take out some of the assassins before they get to decimate your back line. A number of other central enemies have rogues as well, so have some care with positioning and/or use a few defensive back line squads to deal with them.

You will receive much needed reinforcements on the right side of the map, which will greatly simplify capturing the objectives there. Be sure to visit the bazaar, preferably after you seize the towns in this stage for more war funds. I recruited Sir Rolante, a knight with the Knight Captain leader skill, despite his water affinity and will shift him to light element to lead a second cavalry squad.

Note that the stage won’t end until you defeat all enemies and take the stronghold on the right. Alternatively you can turtle up for 15 turns, but that’s no fun.

Interlude

With Barnabas, Jules and Sybil back into the fold it’s time to reorganize a bit more. If you have acquired any characters that you want to be leaders in the future, consider shuffling them into Barnabas’s squad.

I recommend using spare horses to promote enough bowmen to horsebows to make Jules’s unit into a light cavalry squad. This will enable hit and run archery tactics to weaken squads and slip back behind the solid infantry lines. If you have enough horses, you could try making a second horsebow squad as well.

I find it harder to make Sybil’s squad a top infantry squad, so another option for her is to add some spare healers and let her focus on out of combat healing.

This is also a good time to use some spare arena tokens to catch up new recruits & the squads that just rejoined your army. I was able to focus xp to Sir Rolante’s new cavalry squad and catch them up to the average army level as well as eke out a bit more cp to promote the rest of Jules’s bowmen.