Been playing this off and on for that few weeks and am up to an average level of 6, with half the providences done. It's pretty good for a low fantasy setting; almost no magical beings other than zombies and ghost animals.
On normal difficulty all the classes work (so far), although I favored heavy armor when there was an option for it. Keeping enough gold is the main problem, which can be overcome, if you want to look up the optimal trade route. Enemy group size is correlated to the size of your group, so I have 1 character for every trade skill, and no more. Pack mules do not add to enemy count, so I have had 3 for most of the game, so far, but just grabbed a 4th. Be aware: any animal that can enter combat will increase enemy numbers.
My band is:
- 2 tanks to lock down enemies (w/ shields and dmg redux abilities)
- 2 spearmen (1 w/ bleed throw, 1 w/ a overwatch that halts movement/attacks)
- 1 2H AoE Maceman
- 1 2H AoE Axeman
- 1 dagger rogue (/w AoE disengage powder to free any of the squishy that get caught or cause a bunch of AOOs)
- 3 Bowman (1 of each spec, although I have not picked up any animals, so the beastmaster is waisted)
If anyone is going to start playing this, look up what attribute bonuses the trade skills give, so you can put them on the right characters. I got lucky and mostly picked right.