I finally had some time to actually sit down and play some DF. Some caveats: I am playing with some other home-brewed mods (mainly 5 semi neutral civs to trade with), no imps, and FD2, Rv19b. I created a small region with 30 civs, found a likely embark location, and set out. 2 miners, a carpenter, a farmer, a mechanic, and 2 well equipped soldiers. The soldiers immediately set to training, while the miners dug a tiny burrow to hide the plebs in. The miners and support staff pushed through a 4 level aquifer (my first successful aquifer breach!) as the soldiers trained in a pasture outside the burrow, watched by idle war dogs. There were several incursions by feral camels that kept wood hauling exciting.
The crafting halls were complete, the dining hall was flush with booze, the temple was rough but functional, forges and fields, stills and kitchens, a grand entry hall! Things were going exceedingly well for us. The overseer didn't feel he had to increase the militia, and needed many more miners, and a broker to trade with the good dwarves, humans, gnolls, crabmen, and minotaurs that were visiting as the seasons changed.
One fine summer day, Ambush!, some raptor women came storming across the desert, wiping clean the alpaca pasture, mauling several of the dangerous feral camels, and finally battling with our spearmaster and axelord. Our soldiers managed to take down all but one raptor woman, who bit through their bronze helms and fractured their skulls. The raptor woman continued into the great entry hall until she reached the tavern entrance, where a visiting giant swept out and punched her across the hall and smashed her to bits on the opposing wall. He was there to hear poetry, and was not happy with the interruption!
Since that day, the overseer has been struggling to keep 2 full squads of soldier alive and equipped long enough to defend the fortress from incursion, but the nakash, raptor men, white tigermen, and an occasional squad of furies keeps their numbers down.
This is the most fun I've had since 34.x. The enemies are coming just strong enough, and just frequent enough, that I am always on my back foot. I occasionally have to rob a caravan of everything they have just to keep ahead of the game. Almost without fail, my soldiers weaken the enemy just enough so the enemy cannot wipe out my tavern of visitors. Then I have the new recruits wash the old recruits out of their "new" armor. This is probably the first fortress I've ever played where I get attacked every year (after the third), sometimes even two or three times a year, and the true threat isn't FBs or titans, or vampires, or tantrum spirals. It's outright fight for your life from the hounds of hell at your gates. I love it, thanks!