I am a noob as well, but I think I can offer some perspective, given what my studies have gleaned.
B&P is a complex game that has been designed to confound efforts to make monster squads who can run roughshod over others. It's all about tradeoffs. You can make choices that give you advantages against some opponents that would be liabilities against others.
Ex. At a 200 point scenario the largest possible unit is 12, the smallest is 4. Given 12 figures, you could field 3 units of 4, or 1 unit of 12. The points between the 2 are a wash. The 3 smaller units offer flexibility as you get 3 action cards, but the 1 large unit has greater hitting power, but only gets 1 card. Tradeoffs.
Bow armed figures don't have to reload, so they rain arrows on their enemies, but bow hits are easily saved. Tradeoffs.
I think the trick is to build forces that offer a lot of options. Change up your force mix often, so you don't end up being predictable from one game to another. That could be the only likely kiss of death.
I think a lot of effort has been invested in building in "variable balance." That being, each force has strengths that offsets other of their weaknesses.
A lot of benefit can be derived from upgrades, especially free ones. If you can upgrade a Sailor unit by swapping out for blunderbuss figures for no charge, whoop on it.
I have never been able to navigate the complexities of FaceBook, but I'll bet their page could offer insights. They used to have a Forum page, but it was always pretty snoozy, and I think it was taken down.
Hope some of this helps.
paints brigs for the British fleet.
