Even with saves to avoid some of the worst disasters, I found my first several games on hard I didn't thrive until I got rid of some feuds. One strategy is to sacrifice like crazy to Challana Arroy until you know her quest, then complete it to make peace with your neighbors. The 'peace bomb' is a pretty effective strategy. Otherwise you can offer lots of goods and/or a treasure to one of your neighbors to end one of the feuds.
It is possible to survive with both feuds, but then you have to quite focus on building up your defences quickly--either lots of blessings, or else the Elmal quest for his aide when attacked.
Finally, I find on hard that having the Silver Dragon really helps. Maybe I'm just superstitious, but often things seem to turn around about the time that I get it.
In general, don't take too many chances. In other words, don't send a weak exploration party into unknown territory without the pathfinder blessing (unless you want to get rid of them, of course), don't try a heroquest when you are under-prepared, unless it is an emergency, etc. Beyond that, the strategies are mostly the same.
Best of luck!
--Bryan
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