Wow it looks like you used most of the Greil mercenaries xD On my first play through I used Jill, Ike, Micaiah, Sothe, Kurthnaga, Ena, Soren, Ilyana, Sanaki, Nephenee, Marcia, Rafiel, Volke, Naesala, Shinon, Mia, Tibarn, and I think that is it.
Lol it's weird, but I like Heather more than Sothe, she has higher speed xD
No I haven't tried hard mode, I haven't really been in the challenging mood. I heard you can't check where your enemies can move in hard mode, and apparently you barely get any bonus EXP
And you can't save during the battle either..