The real kicker in Midgard: Heroic Battles is the heroes. Just like great men and women of legend, they sway the tide of battle based on how they fight and how they die. While regular units have comparatively few ways (killing a unit just causes a rep drop for the enemy and no gains for you) of impacting the game-winning reputation score, heroes can barely fart without reputation fluctuation. Getting stuck in with the boyz (or without them) is good, fighting duels is good, charging is good, dying, retreating, or using Mighty Deeds to avoid death is bad. So is being the single survivor of your unit: you are literally being punished for attempting to bubble-wrap your fighters.
TTS screenshot: a bleak shoreline where High Elves face off against some Saxons.
