Chapter 5x
Hey, it's that dude with the lances that will be the main character later! Ephraim is the best tactician ever. "The enemy is attacking us, we're brutally outnumbered, what do we do?" "Attack their base". "...there's four of us, sir" "CHARGE!" He says the line "What harm could a little reckless besieging cause?". Dude is totally insane. There's dialogue here hinting that there's a traitor amongst the ranks. I wonder who that could be...
So this is a big map with a ton of enemies and we have four dudes. I think it's pretty obvious this will be an Orson charge, but I'll try to get what kills I can for Ephraim so he's at a tolerable level, his stats are pretty good and promoting to horse is great so I want to be sure he has respectable stats when his pony comes along. I ignore the treasures, much as it pains me to pass up a Killer Lance. Ephraim manages to get to level 6, which isn't too bad; he'll gain levels easily enough in future chapters thanks to Reginleif destroying armor and horses. Orson murders stuff but has to get lucky on 68 displayed hit against the boss. I trade for his valuable stuff (gee I wonder who that traitor could be) and seize on turn 8.
Oh, right, characters. Forde and Kyle are your standard cavalier duo, though Franz is better. Ephraim is one of the stronger Lords in the series. Orson is the crutch who dominates the map and totally won't betray us or be evil or have anything like that going on.
Chapter 6
So this is the fog chapter with that Halberd fighter lurking. Got to be careful. Oh, and there's some civilians to save from a giant spider. Those spiders are actually fairly strong enemies, hitting hard and being quite durable.
Before beginning I buy some stuff, notably a Torch staff for Moulder to gain some experience with, a Restore staff for later in the game, and some weapons. Also, I give the Dragonshield to Franz, figuring he could use it. Technically Seth is the best option for ensuring his complete domination continues, but this method means Franz can handle a bit more combat and thus has better odds of gaining enough levels to get really good.
This chapter can be a bit of a pain, lots of enemies hiding beyond your field of vision, ready to annoy you. Fortunately I've played it enough to have a vague idea of where things are (besides that Halberd Fighter, may he burn in hell). Run into a hell of a cluster**** in the middle when I lure too many enemies and forget to block Eirika off enough and she dies. What a shame, try again. This time, the same cluster**** happens but I handle it better. Garcia draws in the Halberd dude and halves his life on the counter attack, Artur blasts a knight, my healers try to stay out of the way.
Seth eventually moves off to challenge the boss while the rest of the team defends against the cavaliers that come in from behind. I get some pretty decent level ups in this chapter, which is always fun. Seth nukes the boss with ease and since the spider never even got close to the civilians, I earn an Orions Bolt. A promotion item for archers. In a game with one archer. Who I will never use. Hooray for spending money! Completed in six turns, not as fast as is possible but again, no big deal, and I'm happy with how I managed to clear out the annoying middle section.
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Mistake you're making - overlooking the fact that we might not want to be saved.