If you're really running out of time, you'll come across a church along the way. Hide in it and wait until the AI moves off in an unknown direction, then run out and calmly reach the end of the mission.
Added 5 minutes later
Hello! I never thought I'd meet anyone else from our little community!
That's strange, I didn't have any problems with that... The army is smaller, but not by much, and I wouldn't say it's much weaker... I remember losing about half of my troops in that battle, if not more...
I definitely took the Wanderer's Boots at the beginning... and various other small items... I practically didn't lose any troops during the mission...
I don't know how you did it... :confused::confused::confused: