Warrior, Paladin, Mage (info, strategy, hints, etc.)

[stupidface]

Hi!

I'm having a lot of trouble playing as a Paladin on Hard (full version.) My troop consists mainly of Humanoids (Peasants, Archers, Monks, Barbarians, Swordsmen) and I'm having a terrible time in fights. I still haven't been able to unlock Knights/Horsemen because the enemy guarding the tent is rated "Impossible." Likewise, exploring any of the nearby territories is difficult because there are very FEW enemies left that are rated "weak." Most are rated as matches or stronger - and I know that if I fight anything other than weaks, I'm going to lose a ton of troops, and then have nothing left to recruit apart from animals.
So I don't know what to do at this point to continue moving forward with my army. I have a ton of money, but nothing worthwhile to spend it on; I could buy equipment items, but would they really make any difference in a me-versus-"strong" battle?
I feel like there's very little left for me to do unless I can raise a substantial number of quality troops - but of course, as a Paladin, I can't raise too many at once.
The "home castle" with King Darion has already run out of everything but Peasants.

The only spell I've learnt is "Healing." I didn't spend my runes too wisely - I focused on mind buffs instead of magic buffs. I was hoping to get the "Tolerance" power so that I could replace some of my troop with Ghosts or Vampires - but I fear that I'll lose them quickly too, especially as I seem to be facing a lot of monks in battles lately.

Well I guess that's it - I just don't really know how to progress. All of my quests tell me to attack someone I cannot possibly defeat. All of my "fetch" quests I've done by waiting for the overpowering enemies to travel far enough along their path that I can sneak through.

So what now?

Thanks! Fun game - but hard!