Chapter 1 is completed in 4 turns.
NB: This isn't the actual run, just a replication of the same strat. The actual one was not recorded because I was too busy rigging the Ishs Courser to show up for the Ch. 1 stables then going back and trying to 4-turn this map from the savestate was an RNG nightmare. Looking back I'm not sure why I even did this, I guess it was for science, just to see that 3-turning Ch. 1-1 was indeed possible...
We start Turn 1 with Reese and the Sinon Knights. Ward is the first to move, attacking the axeman on the way. Technically the Knight Sword is slightly more reliable than the Longspear in defeating him due to more chances to hit (3-4 compared to 1-2 with similar accuracy ratings) but I got impatient and relied on defeating the axeman on the 1st move (or reset) which the Longspear actually has a better shot of doing. Unfortunately it didn't 1HKO due to shield proc but Reese and Sherlock was there to finish the job just in case (the two switching positions on Turn 1 doesn't affect the later turns too much, in case the axeman attacked from further right). Adel and Leon are positioned 7 and 8 spaces away from Benner the Axe Knight in anticipation of the next turn.
Turn 2 is the major RNG hurdle, with the task of defeating the bulky Benner. For a 4-turn, Reese must move with most of his movement, which means Benner with his 44 HP and 7+7 Def must be defeated this turn. The Spearman and the Crossbowman that attacked Ward last turn usually move onto target our lesser units from the grass and so there is little worry of them blocking the way. Ward is the best candidate to take out the stationary Spearman right in front of Benner with his Knight Sword which can strike up to 2 times; the Spearman does no damage to him so he gets 4 shots of doing so, which with a 82% net hit rate is fairly reliable in connecting twice required to defeat him. Defeating Benner however is a considerably more difficult task. Sherlock and Adel attempts to chip his HP down or at least chip down his shield (Adel should've attacked with the Pilum, looking back), then Leon stacked with hit boosting support skills from Reese and Adel (resulting in 98% hit) engages in a risky Deathmatch which extends his round of combat to 5. Thankfully Benner falls and Leon lives, and Reese moves forward in his quest to reach the seize point.
Meanwhile we got Dean the Fighter and Izerna the Cleric on this turn. Izerna moves 2 spaces down very early in the turn in order to bait the 3 axeman starting from the far left side of the map, since they are aggroed to Izerna and Izerna only. We want them to head downwards so that they don't end up blocking the way of Reese and the Sinon Knights. Dean uses Desperation (extending round of combat to full allowing him to double with +22 hit at the cost of guaranteed enemy hit and defense lowered to 0) to grab a vulnerary and a gold coin (1000D).
On Turn 3 we have Sinon Knights moving closer to the seize point. and taking down a few enemies that may potentially block the way. Notable is the Spearman that drops a Verian Spear; his movement pattern is actually random upon there being no playable unit in his range. In this run he managed to move in quite a fortuitious spot for us to reach so we were able to obtain the Verian Spear, admittedly not a great weapon but not too shabby alternative in the early game. Leon heals himself with Benner's vulnerary in preparation for the next turn. Note that Dean attacks the enemy with the Hand Axe and his sprite turns red; this particular Axeman has innate Fury coded in, meaning he is aggroed only to the most recent playable unit that attacked him, keeping Izerna safe for the next turn.
On Turn 4 we wrap up by defeating the boss Richens and seizing. Adel with his mediocre stats and Vantage makes great bait for enemies, allowing him to divert them from blocking the path. Sherlock gets a stray kill with the help of Double-Shot and Reese's Commander aura. Longspear!Ward with full movement and Desperation!Dean are tasked with defeating Benner; these two are sufficient for the bosskill upon connecting all 3 hits (1 from Ward, 2 from Dean) and Richens proc-ing shield at most 2 out of 3 times which is actually fairly reliable. We make sure to do this by attacking Richens only after he ends his turn, since otherwise he uses his vulnerary, and hence we use one of Chris or Elbert who just arrived this turn to delay our move. If Richens survives this then Leon is there to finish him off with Deathmatch, but with Richens down Leon is instead tasked with defeating another Spearman with a gold coin for the sweet extra 1000D. Dean could have visited the house if we moved him differently but we don't need the Yew Wood as we only need 1 and another is sold later. (it could have saved some gold in the long run but makes the clear considerably less reliable) Finally Reese dismounts and seizes, ending the map.
