Wait, how did 2 mercenaries and 3 peasants kill 5 guys in full plate?
The two mercenaries were in good armor and were well equipped. The thing about LiF is that the stamina system actually benefits people in lighter armor, a guy in leather or chainmail can easily beat people in full plate if they know what they're doing.
We discovered that the key to winning any fight is to let your opponent run out of stamina, as the majority of the people you'll encounter are really bad at managing it. Sprinting with your weapon out causes you to lose stamina faster, and sprinting with a swing held is even worse, and most people will gladly try to chase you until they're gasping for breath, and that's when you shove your sword down their throat.
Three guys with slings can actually cause a lot of damage if they know how to skirmish properly, a single sling stone can do 20+ damage to people in light armor, and 10+ to people in heavier armor. The pitchfork is also a really good skirmishing weapon, it's just too bad the new patch gave it a nerf, we might actually need real weapons to kill people now.