HM battles are easy because they're more than a year old and everyone extremely outgears them. If you want to do them like they were intended, find some people who will wear only ilvl 55 gear, and then it'll be much more fun.

Soldiery is obtained by just about everything. Hunts are a great way, they spawn very frequently and give a good amount of soldiery. You can also find new people and get the sol bonus in trials/dungeons to cap pretty fast.