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Chapter 5: The Empire's Reach
Chapter 5! Not nearly as bad as Chapter 4 was, but it can be nasty in its own way. In particular, the right side is the worst, with the bandits showing up on Turn 1 and the soldiers and archer from above being right behind them.
Guy, Lucius, and Erk are going up the left side, and everyone else is going right. Seth's bringing up the rear since the middle guys will come down and around after us.
Natasha gets a very boring recolor considering we got a blue and purple mage last chapter, but otherwise it's business as usual.
Enemy numbers continue to creep up. The mercenary is impossible to double, and basically every single enemy is dangerous. The only units we have that aren't two-shotted are Seth and Lyn, and the latter is dependent on not being hit by a pair of soldiers.
Case in point. Buffing soldiers and giving you almost exclusively sword units at the beginning of the game is easily my least favorite aspect of the hack.
These guys are the worst. They show up on turn 1, so unless you stick Seth on them, you can't get far enough over to deny them the forests for defense.
That one forest is exposed, but unless I want to sit Priscilla on it helplessly, there's not much I can do about that. At any rate, Nino kills of the soldier, leaving Seth open to bait the next one.
Lucius sets up the kill for Guy, but there's no room for Erk to sneak in and heal him up. Fortunately, he's just out of range of both archers.
To add one more fun note to the pile of hack oddities, stat-ups are now three uses a piece. This is far less game-breaking than it sounds, because the enemy stat growth outpaces your own pretty quickly.
Eirika's lack of strength growth has made her basically useless, even against bandits like these. Admittedly this is the not-boss bandit, but she can't even double him.
Seth leaves the east group to play hardball up the center. As much as I'd like him off to the right, I need to keep the heat off the left group even more.
Seth did most of the heavy lifting against the soldier already, so Nino has another easy kill. By eliminating him this turn, the survival game becomes much easier. Priscilla can easily slip out of range of the archer, and provided Lyn doesn't eat a hit from the right bandit, he'll go after Natasha.
Having survived another turn, we can start actually moving forward. Seth starts by killing the archer, and Lucius knocks out the fighter, letting Guy rush to the first forest and slam a vulnerary.
Eirika manages to pick up yet another awful level by killing the remaining bandit, and a combined effort from Lyn, Priscilla, and Nino deals with the archer.
...And that happens. We're a little worse for wear and tear, but we've secured the starting area.
The name of the game is now staying out of Josh's range until we knock out at least one fighter. Priscilla heads for the village, and Lyn moves in position to bait the right one.
And we have bandits now, lovely.
Eirika deals with the fighter and Natasha hops in the woods. It won't be pretty, but she can take the hit from the figther.
Guy opts to deal with the merc in a completely ridiculous way, but his crit is quite timely and solves the problem of how to handle him afterwards.
Priority number one - recruit Joshua.
Strictly talking about the base game, Joshua Dante is indeed the best myrm in the game. Here, it's a little less clear-cut due to having Lyn and Guy around, but he still makes a damn good showing. And seriously, I dare you to tell me that's not the best recolor. 
Eirika pops a lucky crit on the fighter, leaving the rest of the crew free to deal with the bandit infestation.
The map is basically under complete control now, with Seth set to draw down one of the last soldiers.
Guy reminds us he still exists on the left-side, easily beating the bandits to the north village.
What have I done to displease you, RNG? 
And with a little flourish from Josh, we're done with everything. Nothing to do but hit the villages and abuse the shit out of savestates clear out the arena. I am way behind the power curve, and if I can't get good levels, I'll have to make due with more of them.
Oh fuck you too, Erk. Anyway, the arena haul:
Well at least I'm richer...
Saar has very patiently been waiting all that time we were in the arena, so I guess we can pay him some attention now. He does have +6 HP, but I'm pretty sure his +1 Str, +1 Speed are just hard mode bonus fluctuations. Or maybe not. Either way he's a joke even if we didn't have super-boosted characters. Nino and Lucius can effortlessly solo him, as can anyone capable of using the armorslayer.
Lucius opens and picks up yet another completely awful level from chip experience.
Josh takes us home with a fantastic level. Chapter complete! 
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Level 5 Myrmidon
Swords - C, Affinity - Wind
Equipment - Killing Edge
HP: 24 (+4) (80%)
Strength: 8 (+4) (35%)
Skill: 13 (+4) (55%)
Speed: 14 (+4) (55%)
Luck: 7 (30%)
Defense: 5 (+2) (20%)
Resistance: 2 (+4) (20%)
Con: 8
Look at that stylish motherfucker. Josh may not be the undisputed king of swordmasters with Lyn and Guy popping up from the beginning of the game, but he shows up with as much strength as either of them have gotten so far, and near max skill and speed from the word go. He's actually a really good choice for promoting early once he caps both - give him a couple levels to try and roll some more strength and defense, and promote him to press your speed advantage before the enemies catch up, because god knows you need it in this hack.
And seriously, that recolor is spectactular and makes me laugh every time because it's so perfect.
Level 1 Cleric
Staves - D, Affinity - Ice
Equipment - Mend Staff, Vulnerary
HP: 18 (+4) (50%)
Magic: 2 (+4) (60%)
Skill: 4 (+4) (25%)
Speed: 8 (+4) (40%)
Luck: 6 (60%)
Defense: 2 (+4) (15%)
Resistance: 6 (+4) (55%)
Con: 4
Natasha benefits a lot from the inflated magic score, but otherwise there's not much to say about her so I'll keep it brief. She comes in much weaker than Erk, ultimately makes a better healer due to her excellent magic growth (in theory), and if you're only going to promote one, she makes the best bishop in the game (though Lucius would give her a run for her money if you're willing to grind up his staff rank).
Her big problem is that Sages have been given a ludicrous buff. To the point where they obsolete basically every single magic class except Summoner. Priests have access to it, but Clerics are stuck with Bishop/Valkyrie as their promotion classes. This basically means that unless Erk is fucked sideways by the RNG, he'll always have that advantage over her, and ultimately be the better healer to raise.