[Endoperez]

Terror (with his aura if they get close) will help. Raise Skeletons/Dead could work. He has encumberance value of 0, so you can just give him the Black Full Plate. Plate will help him survive, and the Aura will hopefully make the independants to retreat. These are my guesses, I'm not very experienced with PoD.

Also, small theory I cooked up while writing:
Fear aura is most effective when he has many troops around him, so Boots of Behemoth with reinvigoration and dual-wielded Main Gauhces (def +6 each) would do wonders. That will take too much to help during the first turns, but it might be possible to dish him items in the field... All that is needed is low Earth, although lots of gems would be needed.