Upgrade or alternative upgrade?

I never upgrade peasants. Why would I? They should bring in money and be retrained into archers.

Archers with retaliatory strike are always better. Especially good for clearing mines at the beginning. It's especially nice when the hero is Dugald and he already has 25 of them.

I prefer Royal Griffons. First, their survivability increases because the griffin spends most of its time in the air. Second, the pike attack is a great thing for messing with archers, mages, and low-initiative creatures.

The only thing is, I like War Griffons when the hero is a specialist in griffons. She greatly improves them, and with Stone Skin, they are an excellent unit for protecting archers.