Would

A conditional statement in the first person requires should, not would.
I should not have succeeded without his help.

The equivalent of shall in indirect quotation after a verb in the past tense is should, not would.
He predicted that before long we should have a great surprise.

To express habitual or repeated action, the past tense, without would, is usually sufficient, and from its brevity, more emphatic.
Poor: Once a year he would visit the old mansion.
Better: Once a year he visited the old mansion.

From: William Strunk, Jr., The Elements of Style, 1918.