Problem is faction AI not monsters, it just kinda sucks.

Monsters arn't threatning too me when I play.All they need is a couple garrison units to supplement militia.

Please add me to one of those factions.

I see factions die off fast every game. However, I often die off fast too (all default settings)! It's kind of hard not to when you have such uber-stacks of monsters walking around early game, which are 5x as strong as any army, and my hero doesn't even have a damage spell to her name.

I don't think the problem is regular wandering monsters, but those from the Wildlands.  I've lost count of the no of starts I've had that have been 4-5 tiles away from those zones.