hyena's!

[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.