It's a slow grind. On my best run, I made it to 13 bandits, camp lv5, barracks lv10. Getting only money and food wasn't enough at that point. I think I forgot to feed them at the end, since it restarted.
I like the progression. Balancing gold, wood, food to progress made for some interesting choices. The values come in too slowly though. I think I'd have to be pretty lucky to win (or I missed something important).
As Cheep mentioned, some indication for what things cost would go a long way.