Wartales Guide - What is the Best / Optimal Party?

Are the bears still so strong or debuffed already?

I went with the lost merchant guards start and advanced these 4 to Swordsman, Rampager, Berserker and Pikeman. Three do blacksmith, cook and tinkerer, while the 4th switches between all the others. This foursome has never lost/fled a battle (experienced diff + adaptive). Managing food/wages for just 4 is a trivial matter. At level 5 now with ghost gear they easily won Smot's arena. Each time I've tried adding a 5th unit (eg. Ranger) the fights became more difficult, however that may change towards late mid-game. We'll see.

try writing scripts . you say uh eh ah too much

Should I take 10 members for each profession ? I am very new to the game.
So far I have 9 members, 3 horses. 9 members with various profession except bard for singing.
My party has 2 swordsman.
2brutes, 2archer, 1ranger, 1pikeman. Forgot another one, he uses heavy axe.

Any recommendations when starting the campaign?