For the longest time I just would not play GCII at all.  And, this Dread Lord Campaign is the reason for it.  I've tried everything I can think of and yet, the only possible outcome is the Dread Lords relentless invasions of my outposts and absolutely always being unable to have an equal footing with any of the AI players.  How do you go into this horrible campaign with the editors provided in the expansions to just fix this sort of problem.  I honestly do not believe there is any way possible to play this "campaign" as written.  Just my opinion and experiense.  So, the only startegy I'm looking for is a level playing field because I'm tired of having to play this game with the cripled setup given to me.