you pretty much want to pump research into crusaders asap as the british, its the only way you'll hold back the hordes of enemies.
I wouldn't bother with mortars to be honest, they're not accurate enough nor do enough damage to be meaningful early on.

Nice tip on a defence phase, strategically let the enemy cap one of your zones, consolidate your forces into one zone, wear them down, and you'll still win (assuming you don't lose too many men or your ammo doesn't run out)

I'll be honest, I think the cards are stacked against Brit players as the personnel costs are absurdly high. However, I'm holding my own and slowly chipping away at conquest. Artillery is key. Invest in stage 1-3 early.

My line up is;
- Stage 1: 2x Highlanders & 3inch mortar
- Stage 2: Matilda II + Canadian rifle section for fire support.
- Stage 3: 2x 25lber and an art. matador + Morris for transport. And combat engineers

When you start, pause the game and have a look around the field and get a rough plan together whether attack or defence, and whether you're going to set up your "FOB". Then call in your arty, and get them over to your spot, then call in stage 2 and move them up. Then stage one once you've got your FOB set up.

Then execute your plan. Attack is mostly a case of using the arty to suppress the enemy, then advance your infantry with with armoured support. Make sure to identify major threats to your armour, and use the arty to knock it out. Your armour can then deal with anti-infantry emplacemets.

As for defence. Getting your art in place, and use your engineers to set up large trenches for your infantry is vital. I try and pick a spot within arty range of the capture points. But sometimes you need to accept that you can't hold everything.

Darcy's strategy can work, but in my experience holding down one zone can drag out the battle too much, and you'll run out of ammo.