I look at Guides just to see the path they take, I dont do blocking moves (cos Im a bad player) and i dont do adventures often.
So I usually look at a few guides then sim my own, unlike Wulf my losses wont prolly be lower but thats ok cos I dont do em often.
My normal routine is pick a day I can spare the time and then use 1 PREM token and try to do as many Valient Little Tailors as possible using
the Merry Christmas General with skilled for max xp. I can do 4 but usually only get 3 done due to lazyness
The reason i Sim is cos my Mary is skilled for 215 troops and the guides dont cover that normally.
I use this sim https://www.settlerscombatsimulator.com/en
Adventures I do the most are Traitors during events cos they normally give good event currency and can be done very quickly
When leveling up I did lots of Stealing from the Rich. but at the moment my big XP grinder is Valient Little Tailor.
So as I dont adventure often, I spend a lot of troops on multiple Valients and then spend a good while rebuilding before doing it again.
I have my own guides for these which I simmed.