Rank I - Strategy | Units and Strategy Eador: MotBW Guide
Last update: 11 May 2016
Rank I creatures are the weakest units available in the game. They don't cost much and don't require sophisticates resources to operate, but can be accessed very early. They allow the growing of the army in its first iteration, but due to their poor statistics, they aren't fit for long and complex campaigns. Don't underestimate them, though - until the hero reaches high Command levels, they're the absolute basis of every army. Access to more advanced units opens only in the medium stages of the game, but even though new units outrank them, they still retain their value.
Unit selection depends on your strategy and the chosen hero. In general, there are two approaches you can apply: offensive and defensive. In the former, focus on units that deal a lot of damage and are able to stalk the enemy (by fire or negative spells). The latter is mostly about protecting key figures with high Defense, Counterattack, gradually bleeding the enemy out and supporting allied units. It's easy to notice that evil creatures are more effective with the first model, while good creatures perform best in the second. The Warrior is in an obvious choice for the offensive approach, whereas Scouts and Wizards are better in defense (in which the primary directive of the army is to protect them). As for Commanders, everything depends on selected skills, though a defensive strategy seems more sensible.
If you wish to play offensively, as soon as possible invest in Barbarians. Their initial cost may be quite high, but their attacks deal huge amounts of damage and the Berserk skill sustains their effectiveness despite whatever wounds that may receive. Alternatively, you can also pick Brigands, which cost significantly less, but are weaker and also take a portion of battle spoils. As for ranged units, the best choice is the Shaman because they deal quite substantial amounts of magic damage over a relatively long distance. With such an army, you'll only need to wait until the enemy approaches close enough and tear them apart with melee units and your shamanic magic.
The drawback here is that an offensive army doesn't have a healing unit, which may translate to a high death rate. It's therefore recommended to invest in some healing spells for the hero - but don't forget that evil units affect karma, and karma may take its revenge!
An opposite philosophy applies to the defensive play. Defensive players should invest most importantly in Healers to heal the remaining units (one Healer for three "regular" units). With that covered, consider Pikemen due to their high Defense, Counterattack and a very useful skill called First Strike. These two types of troops supplement each other greatly and allow achieving surprisingly good scores - especially if they're led by a Scout or a Commander. Use Pikemen to cover the most vulnerable units, counterattack and heal wounded soldiers. If that doesn't work, you may also consider Swordsmen and Crossbowmen.
The drawback of the defensive play is its exclusively defensive nature - if the enemy has a lot of ranges units (and in the worst case - magic missile-throwers), they will kill the Healers without a sweat and proceed to exterminating the rest of your army. Keep that in mind and train your hero in damage dealing to make sure that doesn't happen (enemy archers usually have low HP).
An utterly alternative solution is necromancy, an interesting choice for a Wizard. As soon as you can, build a School of Necromancy and learn spells to summon the undead (Raise Skeleton and Raise Zombie). Unfortunately, you can only do it in the third round of the game - due to buildings' requirements - so in the meantime you can visit some dungeon and use its guards. You can also consider recruiting some unconventional troops which primary purpose would be to die in battle: you can use the dead to resurrect them into the undead. Militiamen are quite good in this regard, though Pikemen allow for effectively killing enemies and using their bodies for dark rituals. The latter is a much better option, but also much more expensive. Also, notice that the upkeep of the undead army requires both a high level of the hero's Necromancy and certain amounts of crystals (but not gold!). It's a relatively economical solution, but at the same time involving a lot of negative karma - each spell from the School of Necromancy diminishes it.