Tried Sword of Damocles?
I play it without cheating, that killed my previous campaign, captured a lot by stupid mountain bandits. 80 Mountain bandits kill your men like a machine gun, I can easily kill 20 sea raider but I will not mess with the mountain bandits again.

And if you roleplay (in fact M&B is not for roleplay, it is for ROLEFIGHT :-) )
Add points to your charisma if you lay back, if you are role fighting (playing) Achilles put points to dexterity.

but my advice do not forget to use old pal (ctrl+H) you will go crazy after mountain bandits massaccre your elites even before they reach the hill.