some questions

[Vulture]

Hey, msp and welcome to the forums.

First of all: there is no perfect army :> Play around with different setups of what is available to you and you'll find what best suits your playstyle and the enemy army you're facing.

But there are of course troops that aren't very effective in whatever setup they're in. Swordsmen belong to that group of general fails ^^
About the Royal Snakes: you'll come across more places where you can hire them most likely. Usually in my games I find at least 3 places that hire out RS, though some of them may be late in the game. You do know that what troops are to hire at any place is entirely random (except several exceptions) ? So don't bother asking where to hire more of whatever.

The key to having the troops you want is to avoid casualties much as you can. Make use of resurrection and bring back whatever you can (with the right tools and strategies you can bring back everything, except extinguished stacks).

As for your second question: you're finding enough money. Unless you lose almost your entire army in battles constantly (or even get wiped) you should do fine, even on hard. The one thing that is available in abundance in this game is gold (and mind runes, lolol).

Avoiding losses is the key to both your questions.