hyena's!

[Razorflame]

well sorry for being a bit vague
was a little late when i typed it

anyway
thorns+hyena don't give syngery

but thorns are cheaper(leadership and gold)
than archers(save for the royal one)

and thorns move faster*(personally i hate the human archer it's balls for a level 2 unit)

and for the swordsman the hyena is better I also think hyena is abit cheaper than swordsmen(IIRC) don't pin me on this one

the critical skill the hyena has owns the swordsman big time

[Vilk]

I never tried Fighter Thorns but used Hunter thorns a lot. If you don't play for a time record then you have time to refill the unit pack and they are great otherwise they are a huge problem to manage because you cannot resurrect them and cannot use them for sacrifice in case you get a reserve for them.

I have to try more Fighter Thorn and Hyena to get a feeling about them.

For the beginning if you are going for a time record then Human Archer doesn't seem good to me too. But Priest with Cardinal can be an interesting alternative during the beginning. It's because heal skill of Priest can be very useful during the beginning. Also if you play a mage you could put one point quite soon in Archmage talent (the later goal is to get asap Higher Magic), that gives Leadership bonus for both unit. Also during beginning unit with magic resistance are quite more rare than later in the game. Archmage are also a better option than Human Archer during the beginning and the duet Cardinal/Archmage is quite good too during the beginning.

If I don't go for a time record, any difficulty mode, I'd go for Hunter Thorn for a long range unit during all the beginning.

[Razorflame]

thorns have other uses than live long:>

[Vilk]

Yes? So you keep your stack at 60/70% of its max? Then it's a stack weaker than most at 90/100%

EDIT: A good point about using both thorns is that Thorns Sprout could be used to keep stacks at a not too low level. Not cool it's so random.
Another point is I feel that at impossible level, constant loss even with cheap units is big penalty because there's very few gold and its best to keep as much than possible to buy more items.

[Razorflame]

i never got any problems with cash on impossible
but then again i hardly lose units :>

[BB Shockwave]

I used Hyenas for quite some time on the first continent. They are fragile (too small HP for Level 2 unit, compare them with Goblins...) but do great damage.

And their specials come in handy - night attack means they are more powerfull underground (day/night cycles are so slow you cannot really count on this factor) and scavenger means their otherwise average speed can be more (4-5) and they can reach enemies without the use of a haste spell, if there is a dead body nearby. You'll need powerfull archers for that, though.

Overall - they are good skirmishers alongside a strong tank like Ancient Bears - use hit and run tactics, and never attack an enemy who has still retaliation left, as they cannot take damage well. Like all animals, they too have -10% fire resistance so keep that in mind, Fire Dragonflies can be problematic.

I used them as an on again, off again reserve troop up until I got to Kordar. Sadly, my losses have started to get high of them, so I left them - without resurrection, you are bound to lose quite a few of them every battle, especially if the enemy gets in a few criticals.

Thorns - they are abysmal. Hunters are very bad archers, too low attack to ever cause good damage, Warriors are fast but that's all that's good about them. They have some immunities, but face it - on the first continents you'll use them, no enemy hero will use Blind anyway. And the -100% fire res. is a huge setback - Fire Dragonflies, Alchemists are things you'll encounter often sadly. The Royal Thorn would be a good unit early on - but most likely you won't get any until you get to the Elves. Unless you want to use them in an all-elven army, where they get good synergies from Dryads, they are a liability, especially when fighting Dragons (trust me, I tried - the AI goes straight for your thorns with Dragons). Royal Thorns are mediocre archers (Elves are better) and great for summoning fodder, but Dryads can summon Thorns too and Elven Hunters can shoot better.

[Metathron]

I beg to differ. I think thorn warriors are a great troop. In my last game as warrior on hard, they were pretty much my main damage dealer for a large chunk of the game (far into Kordar). You'll just have to face up to almost constant losses, so buy off all the seeds you can to replace them right away.