You had a strange reaction to the question about raw power. Here's a specific example: you can take 38 wolves, but you can't take 32.
In general, I try to restart if I have 30-32 wolves and no support units, but 36-39 is usually fine. Also, sometimes I have to sacrifice individual wolves, which is critical when there are few of them.
Regarding the cup, I hope it was played with full rules? Then I'd like to see the save files from the HL games; I don't want to consider mininostalgia here.