How to play Rebels

General Rebel Strategies:

Diversify your starting recruit against a random opponent, e.g. a Scout, a Shaman, an Archer, two Fighters, and a Mage.

Rebels have excellent defense in forests. A primary consideration for your strategy should be holding and leveraging available forest hexes.

Your faction is largely compromised of the neutral Elves, but the Mage, Wose, and Merman are Lawful. You will be strongest in the day, but if your opponent is also lawful it is usually best to fight at night.

Rebels have an abundance of ranged attacks in addition to the Dextrous trait on Elves. This enables frequent chances to attack without taking retaliation damage; it also guarantees any opponent attacking you will take some damage in return.

Second only to the Drakes, Rebels have good mobility. The Scout has the highest level 1 movement in the game, and all of your Elves have the efficient woodland movetype. Attempt to take an early village advantage and later ZOCing your opponent's weakened units.

The Elves bring multiple special abilities to the table. The Elvish Captain provides access to the Leadership trait, which can prove the difference when fighting an enemy at their chosen time of day. Shamans provide +4 healing and the ability to slow enemy units, a cornerstone of the Rebel strategy; their 70% defense in forests even allows them to provide effective front line support.

Rebels vs Drakes

Drakes are an incredibly offensive opponent: be careful of their extreme mobility and high damage. They want nothing more than to fight you on open ground, where they will massacre your fragile Elves. Denying terrain from Drakes is irrelevant in this matchup, but ensuring that you have the best possible terrain for key fights is critical. Their Saurians bring additional threats - magical attacks to force you out of the forest, and Skirmisher allows them to assassinate wounded units in your back line.

Fortunately, you have the tools to turn the tide: your Mages, while impotent against the fiery Drakes, are a key counter to their Saurian underlings. You have an abundance of Piercing damage, which the Drakes fear. Your incredible defenses can turn the tide as the easily hit Drakes fall under a flurry of arrows as their blows fail to strike your forces of the forest. You will likely aggress at night, unless he has a horde of Saurians.

Archer: AAA Pierce is the best physical damage type against all Drakes, and the Archers bring that in bulk. Be judicious where you expose them as they are the most expensive unit you'll have on your front line most turns, but you need their raw damage to shred through the large health pools of the Drakes.
Rating:A

Fighter: The most efficient unit on your side in terms of stats/gold, the Fighter is your best answer to his Burners, and will cut up Saurians if no Mages can safely do the job. Be careful as it is slower than the average Drake. If you need to sacrifice a unit, the Fighter will deal decent retaliation damage to any drake that hits it, weakening them for a counterstrike. Finally, if you get one to Captain, that will be a significant advantage in holding off the Drakes' chosen time of day.
Rating:A-

Shaman: You need their slow, pure and simple. A slowed Drake is likely a dead Drake. Quick Shamans might be able to snipe a Clasher on the retreat and force a favorable engagement. You don't need their defensive abilities as much as Archers should be occupying most of your front line forest hexes, but their heal is always a welcome addition. If you can slow a Burner from a forest hex, that will significantly reduce retaliation from an Archer (though it's not worth it if that Archer must then attack from a flat hex, as the reduction in defense from 70% to 40% essentially doubles the damage you will take).
Rating:B+

Merman Hunter: These fish will provide cover at sea. High defense, pierce, good movement - what's not to like? Recruit these as necessary for the map you are playing.
Rating:B

Mage: Completely useless against the fireproof Drakes, one or two of these can still be a key recruit against a Saurian threat. If the Saurians never leave excellent cover, a Mage will be needed to efficiently dispatch them. Be careful, as Skirmishers are a high threat at night. Don't allow a Skirmisher to attack a Mage at night from good terrain if possible - you may not be able to safely counterattack the next turn.
Rating:B-

Scout: While their ranged attack is satisfactory, they are not worth their cost in combat. One can be useful for scouting or ZOC; on a larger map you may require one simply for efficient village acquisition. Two is likely one too many unless you have separated fronts.
Rating:C

Wose: Only recruit this unit if you have a cluster of villages under constant Saurian threat. Too slow to catch Saurians, extremely vulnerable to Burners, and chopped down by Clashers and Fighters, your money is better spent elsewhere. At least it will absolutely murder any Saurian it manages to actually reach.
Rating: D-

Rebels vs Knalgans

Terrain denial is the most important aspect of this matchup. His Poachers will be trying to take your forests, while denying his hills and mountains is critical.

Shamans and Mages shine against the Dwarves. A Shaman in a forest hex has the defense and health of a thief with no physical vulnerabilities, and if she ever slows an Ulfserker you get a free kill - not that her slow is wasted on Fighters, Guardians, or Gryphons.

Priority levelups continue to be Druids and Captains. Healing and Leadership greatly enhance the Elves' capabilities; the captain essentially negates the Dwarves' armor. The Knalgans don't have access to these abilities, so they will provide a large advantage.

Shaman: TODO
Rating:A+

Mage: TODO
Rating:A

Fighter: TODO
Rating:A-

Archer: TODO
Rating:A-

Wose: TODO
Rating: B-

Merman Hunter: TODO
Rating:C

Scout: TODO
Rating:C-

Rebels vs Loyalists

TODO

Fighter: TODO
Rating:A-

Archer: TODO
Rating:A-

Shaman: TODO
Rating:B+

Mage: TODO
Rating:B

Wose: TODO
Rating: B-

Merman Hunter: TODO
Rating:B-

Scout: TODO
Rating:B

Rebels vs Northerners

This is a classic matchup between the 'evil' northener orcs and the good elves. Northeners are cheap and tough, as well as being largely melee orientated- your units are more expensive, more fragile and range orientated. Despite this, this is a relatively straight forward matchup; neither faction has any great resistances you have to watch out for, and orcs have no superpowerful units in their arsenal.

Generally, your biggest worry will be grunts and assassins. Assassins have poison; it's the only way northeners can effectively move you out of your forest (without taking lots of retaliation). To combat this, make sure you recruit shamans and keep them behind your front-line units to avoid taking damage from poison. Grunts do a fair bit of damage at night- so try to keep fragile units in defensible terrain.

Wose: This unit is less effective against northeners. They have no resistances to the largely blade-using northeners, and are weak to the archer's fire attack. They're also very expensive. Still, they're good at counter-attacking trolls and grunts and even wolves. They are your toughest unit though, and are good in making a roadblock. Beware they're slow.
Rating: B-

Mage: These guys & girls are your daytime-hitters. They do great damage and what's more they're magical. Very useful at knocking trolls of their perches, but can also kill any annoying grunts of wolves that get in your way. Finally, they can be used to finish of those pesky assassins. Still, fragile and expensive, so keep them protected.
Rating:B+

Scout: As they're name implies, they are your scouts. Beat wolves one on one, but don't recruit too many of these. They are amazingly mobile though, and are good at harassing most northener units.
Rating:B-

Merman Hunter: These guys are your navy. They're ranged attack is usefull at harassing northeners when they are in water, and they fare well against the opponents nagas. Still, not an awful load of firepower and not massively tough. Oh and if you can level these guys, you get another slower!
Rating:C+

Shaman: Speaking of slow, how could we forget these girls? Weak and fragile, but they are incredibly useful at counterring poison, and a pair of these give your high defence units regeneration! What's more, they do of course, slow. Slow halves the opponents damage and movement speed. They can be used to slow units you can't slaughter, and prevent rogue grunts from killing wounded units. Still, recuit with caution- no more than three shamans for every twelve other units!
Rating:B+

And finally...

Fighter: Your grunts. Do plenty of retaliation in melee and even retaliate in ranged combat! These guys kill assassins and can be used to attack grunts if slowed by a shaman (or wolves). They're also one of your tougher units and can be used to shield other units. They're also fairly quick. Your force should have plenty of these, but they are not your biggest attacker...
Rating:A-

How can we not mention the...

Archer: Undoubtedly the best archer in the game (excluding perhaps, the knalgan thunderer) these guys are you biggest and most reliable damage dealers. They can happily rain 5-4 arrows on the melee northeners and still retaliate back with 6x2 melee damage. As a personal preference, I love spamming these guys and raining hell from above on the orcs. Beware though, they have only 28 hp and no resistances, so at night, keep them in forest or mountains, or if you can't, use a fighter- they have a ranged attack too!
Rating:A

Rebels vs Rebels

TODO

Fighter: TODO
Rating:A-

Mage: TODO
Rating:A-

Wose: TODO
Rating: B+

Archer: TODO
Rating:B

Shaman: TODO
Rating:B-

Merman Hunter: TODO
Rating:B-

Scout: TODO
Rating:C

Rebels vs Undead

The Undead have very specific resistances and vulnerabilities, so many of your units are less useful

Mage: This will be your primary ranged unit. It's one of your most expensive units, but it's worth it for its fire attack. It has a ranged magical attack as well, so you can hit units even when they have good defense. You do have to remember that this unit is lawful, so you have to use it during favorable times, and keep it out of the way when unfavorable..
Rating: A

Shaman: This unit is always helpful, because it has the healing ability. Although it isn't much, it can sometimes save your other units, especially when operated in pairs behind your lines. They also have the Slows ability, which can be used against their Skeletons. You can also slow Ghouls, however it won't be as effective because the Ghoul's main weapon is Poison, not its attacks. Their weapons are impact, too, so they'll do more damage then normal..
Rating: A-

Wose: Even though Woses look awesome against the undead, with their high damage impact attack and regeneration, fight the urge to spam them. They're so slow that a good player will be able to outmaneuver you and kill you easily in the night.
Rating: B.

Fighter: These guys have a blade attack and a secondary pierce attack. Against undead, you want a couple for village holding and damaging Dark Adepts, however don't go overboard with them.
Rating: B-

Archer: This unit has a good pierce attack and a decent blade attack. Normally this unit is excellent, but against undead he doesn't do near as much damage. The only reason to recruit this unit would be for it's high movement points, and for the 17 gold required, you may as well recruit a Scout. Don't recruit this unit, spend your gold elsewhere.
Rating: D-

Hunter: This unit normally has fairly bad attacks, and then since they're both pierce, the undead's resistances make them even worse. They can be used to quickly grab water villages and hold them, but other than that they're just cruddy against Undead..
Rating: F+.

See also

How to play Mages