Its not a bug, really, but I didnt find any other thread to throw this to (and its certainly bad idea to create a new thread for it)
When you defend villages from raiders or bandits, you get only farmers to your side from the village. But, before and after the battle, you could recruit tribesmen or such to your party. In battle they are nowhere to be found. I'd explain this by saying bandits/raiders killed the recruits first, and after the battle some farmers leveled up to be good enough to be recruited, but still. It'd be logical to implement tribesmen to defend a village, not just farmers.
(Of course, they may already be there, but I have mistaken them as my own troops)