Where do you get such crazy numbers from???!!! 100 elves, okay, but 100 cyclops??? Alright, let's assume they're guarding something. If they're guarding something important, then they're aggressive and won't join you under any circumstances!

Apparently, you haven't played Heroes much.

Let me reveal a secret.
On day 1, 20 cyclops guard something (let's say a book of earth).
Since weekly growth isn't canceled, these cyclops gradually become more and more numerous. By the end of the first month, there are already about 50 of them... and so on. Since I constantly play on XL, when the main game starts, there are already a considerable number of these cyclops... and the hero with diplomacy gets them for free (very often, of course, there are cases when they join for money or simply run away)
That's where these numbers come from.

Believe me, even if you're playing on M and your opponent has 20-30 more griffins, they'll crush you! =)