I would like to suggest the implementation of Pavise shiels into the game, as well as a barricading system.
The Pavise shield would be a two-handed carrying item that would need to be deployed into a tile, taking a whole turn to do so and giving excellent missile defense at the front.
The barricading system would be something usable by both player and NPC parties, where it would be an additional option to the ‘camp’ mode. The barricades would be special tiles into the grid that gives the same advantages of higher terrain elevation.
These two additions would give a lot more diversity to combat, and defending against beasts would become epic, as well as making attacks on enemy camps something much more interesting… Deploy the barricades could be something with a cost in tools, to keep things balanced.