Definitely partner with lots of Pokemon. Kanbei, Ieyasu, and Motonari's stories are all, have an army that has 100 Pokemon total. In addition, Oichi, Gracia, and Yoshimoto's required Pokemon to evolve, all have crappy attacks/attack strength. Oichi is Jigglypuff/Wigglytuff, Normal type, need I say more? Gracia is Gothitelle, whose attack is Future Sight. Yoshimoto is Forretress, it's attack, Gyro Ball, sucks. You'll need to change their Pokemon, FAST. I just evolved Nene, working on Shingen and am dealing with the frustration that Riolu are so damn rare. They only show up in the level 3 farm in Puglis after the main story. I've been farming months for Shingen, but I'm getting closer to 75% and still no Riolu.
~Ayra~