How to play Southern Elves
Alignment
Southern elves are neutral. Riders are lawful. If you need a good unit to fight during the night, Night Walker is the way to go.
Core units
Balanced Fighter I-III - good, core unit. You simply need these guys in your army. Good for everything and also good unit to start with. Make few of them. Even more powerful when combined with slow. Upgrade to higher level if you have a "dextrous trait", or if you have enough units for slowing down enemies.
Defender I-II - slow, but strong unit. They are good against pierce, blade and impact damage, so do not let enemy mages nearby. They also have the first strike ability in melee combat.
Greenie Archer (only level 0) - weakest unit in your arsenal, that can easily upgrade to marksman. Use as the cheap unit with no unkeep cost to grab villages. Careful, they are very weak.
Longbowman I-III - these guys are your archers and mages combined. Great attack, multiple ranged attack types (pierce, cold and fire), but very vulnerable. Do not use them, if enemy have more units and ability to encircle them. Combine them with slowing units and balanced fighters or defenders. Very deadly under the effect of leadership.
Medicine Woman I-IV - great leader, good in everything. Leadership, slowing, healing. With cold attack they are good against drakes. Vulnerable against not slowed enemies.
Night Walker I-III - this is the reason why southern elves do not use woses. They can regenerate. Good unit, but with bad usefullness/cost ratio. If you are low on money or enough villages are nearby, balanced fighters and defenders are better.
Scout I-III - very good in scouting, very bad in fighting. They are a classic "horse archers", but with low hitpoint. They are lawful, making them useless during the night and good during day against some enemies.
Witch I-IV - interesting magic units. Very weak and very fragile. Many attack types, but not very dangerous and hard to upgrade. Use them to weaken enemies.
Level 2+ units
Ancient Spirit III-IV - powerful melee fighter, improvement from "Witch" line. They can teleport, so it is a good idea to have one. Good in both attack and defending villages. No ranged attack.
Balanced Berserker II-III - great unit to finish off wounded units, enemy leaders or weak units, like healers. Also good for killing fighters in very bad terrain. Frenzy mode is optional. They are improvement from the "defender" line.
Balanced Skirmisher II-III - interesting unit, improvement from "balanced fighter" line. They are fast and as any skirmisher, very good when used properly.
Blessed Warrior II-III - unit with strong any magic ranged attack. They are protected with cold, slowing aura. They can also use the slowing melee attack to slow down strong enemies, so others can finish them.
White Rider - level 3 "scout" line unit, with more hitpoints and much better melee attack, but weak ranged attack.
Basic strategy
Use scouts or greenie archers to get far villages. Do not buy too much of them, because they are not very strong.
Combine balanced fighters and medicine women, so you have a good fighting force against most units. Greenie archers are stronger in battle when near medicine women with leadership.
Against special enemies, add these units:
- Defenders against pierce/blade/impact enemies. They are slow, so recruit them in a fort closer to the enemy, or soon, so they will get there in time.
- Longbowmen and witches are good against drakes, skeletons, woses and other "not standard" units. Be sure you can protect them. Do not forget, that your greenie archers will become longbowmen, too.
- Night Walkers are good for swamps, water or deep forest. They can walk their way alone and take villages and heal in villages or when retreating. For their cost they provide very weak damage output.
Upgrading
Improving medicine women should be your priority. Also, having at least one balanced berserker is a great idea. Every unit is much less fragile in higher levels.