Do general stars affect the strength of your soldiers or something?

[Labrat]

It's 15% for hard and +4 morale and 30% for expert~ 1 valour.

You are absolutely right. Thanks for the correction.

[Heidrek]

The difference in combat at Expert level is definitely noticeable. Enemy spearmen take a lot more killing and are much more dangerous, likewise, you cant count on a couple of cavalry charges into the enemy Archers to cause a mass rout. Manuevability becomes even more important, as does making max. use of the terrain. I've had to adjust my strategies significantly on expert, as I can't rely on my swordsmen charging down hill to scatter the advancing spears and swords. Now they hold and fight back while their cavalry moves to outflank me and scatter my archers!

Flanking and rear attacks almost always decide the battle now so containing the enemy cavalry is very important.