So I had two problems.
The first is, game would start on crash, at "loading map file", this happened sometimes on windows (1 out of 5 times) and every time on linux and mac and making it unplayable.
The other is sometimes when you're trying to leave a scene, it would crash to desktop. This happened on windows (not sure about linux as you couldn't even start the game).
I'm 90% percent sure they are related as it often happens on windows when you alt tab back and out.
Now, this:
There are 2 invalid items in the guy. (Town 10 is 'Shattered Skull')
Values look like face codes. You may have pasted face codes to where items should be in the module_troops.py. Check this guy.
This worked. Fixed this troop, switched to linux and the game successfully started. It was this one troop. Can't believe it was something this simple.
Regarding the other crash, it usually shows up after playing a little, so I will have to test it. I'm pretty much sure it's fixed too, if not, it was the lesser of two dragons anyway.
Thank you so much. I will add you all to the credits.
RecursiveHarmony, Eärendil Ardamírë, Swyter and phallicassortment. Thank you all for helping me track down the problem.