Well, my Intellect is nowhere near that. Maybe 10.
Anyway, I have decided to change my strategy. Instead of progressing through the game in a linear fashion (i.e. clear out Freedom Isles, then Kordar, then Ellinia) I have decided to follow the main story quests to open up new areas. This was also done to get the two final rage spirits, both found in Kordar. So I took on the castle for Reaper long before I was 'ready,' but early enough to actually win with heavy losses.
Then I decided to ditch Mirabella and get the dwarf wife. By running around in Taron Mines, Upper Hardar and Ardan's Peaks, I was able to pick up a LOT of loot without fighting anything. I also got a lot of great artifacts/equipment. I have decided on this team to finish clearing out Freedom Isles (I am nearly level 14 now):
Evil Beholders - 45
Dwarves - 90
Giants - 5
Horsemen - 50 (with Horsemen's shield)
Cannoneers - 50
The Dwarf wife improves the morale, but unfortunately I don't have room for the keg of beer at the moment. I also have the dwarf axe that Tom Digor gives you. All of this stuffing around has set me way back with the time (it's now day 15 and I still haven't cleared Freedom Isles) but I have a team to do the job finally. I am sacrificing the possibility of a high score in order to do the job properly.
Another thing - people often say I shouldn't bother with Trading 3, but I would not have been able to pursue this strategy without it. It's only 6 mind runes in total, and then you can sell everything you want for 100% value. This is how I survived my problems in Freedom Isles, by selling items such as the Clear Crystal, the barbarian totem head, and the Halberd. About 105,000 gold right there. Now I am back down to almost zero money again, but I am not worried because I now have the A team with excellent equipment.
Actually this is more fun than I was expecting - mainly because I am finding it much more difficult than my Impossible Mage game so far.
