After some extensive play, it becomes apparent that there are a few particular scenarios you need to be able to handle for success. I'd say the most important of these is the ability to defeat a full stack of Sprites inside walls, as this is a fairly common situation that you'll run up against and is one of the most challenging to deal with if not prepared, esp in 1.4x+, when flying units won't suicide themselves.
From my experience there a re few ways to handle this scenario early, which does a lot to dictate how I approach the game. Here are approaches that can be used to handle this common scenario, necessary for defeating many enemy wizard early on. In no particular order:
1) Hell Hounds: Generally, a full stack of Hell Hounds beats a full stack of Sprites, but you won't have much left when its over (which is fine).
2) Basilisks: Generally 2 can take a full stack of Sprites.
3) Shadow Demons: Again 2 is good.
4) Barbarian Cavalry: How many it takes depends on how they are buffed, what level they are, and if they have magic weapons. Generally, for aggressive play if you are using Barbarians you should have Warlord and Alchemy. If so, then, along with a Healing spell you can typically take a full stack of Sprites with as few as 3 Barb Cavs. It may require as many as 5 if they aren't well buffed or leveled.
5) Flying Paladins: Typically you can defeat a full stack of Sprites with a single unit of Flying Paladins, but be careful, if they gang up on you in melee range they could take the unit out. Still, with decent maneuvering a single Paladin is all it takes.
6) Doom Drakes: Between 2 and 4 are needed, depending on buffs and experience levels.
7) Horsebowmen: You can take a full stack of Sprites with 4 to 6 Horsebowmen, depending on the magic used and their experience.
8) Stag Beetles: Two Stag Beetles are able to do the job.
9) Dragon Turtles: 2 or 3 are needed.
10) Wyvern Riders: Not sure as I haven't tried this, but I'd assume 3 or 4 would be needed.
Not much else is really worth considering. I guess you can also use Slingers or Halfling Shamen, but as 1 movement, those just just aren't great offensively.
Of this, the fastest stack to get out is of course the Hell Hounds. This makes Chaos so powerful in the early game, with one of the best offenses. Rushing with Hell Hounds is always a good path to success.
Other summons that can work are Basilisks and Shadow Demons, but it can take a while to get those and they are much more expensive to cast, plus Shadow Demosn are quite slow on the map.
Barbarian Cavalry and Horsebowmen are other fairly fast options that are pretty solid. I'd say the Barbarian Cavs are a bit stronger than the Horesebowmen, but Nomads have a stronger late game than Barbarians.
Doom Drakes are also solid, though for as fast as it should be to get them out, it seems it usually takes a while to actually field an the first 3 Doom Drakes, and on Myrran you will often face capitals that are more difficult than just Sprites to deal with.
Stag Beetles, Dragon Turtles and Wyvern Riders, while all capable, take quite a while to field, and really who wants to play those races?
This leaves the flying Paladins. This is by far the surest best. Its true that Paladins can take a while to produce, but the thing is, once you have flying Paladins you can conquer pretty much anything. And it doesn't really take that long to get them out. If you rush for Paladins you can get them out fairly quickly assuming a decent starting position. You can do this with Sorcery if you use Nagas for early offense and post a couple of Nagas on defense in your capital as well. If you go with 9 or 10 Sorcery books you should be able to research Flight fairly quickly as well. I can often get it Flight by the time I am able to build Paladins.
I should note there that Dwarves with flying Golems can work much the same way as Paladins, so really that's another option.
So generally there are really just a few options that can give you a strong opening with the ability to take pretty much any wizard capital in the early game (assuming they didn't start with 11 books).
1) Chaos with Hells Hounds is a sure and fast bet.
2) Barbarians or Nomads provide fairly cheap and mobile units that can be built early on.
3) Draconians, while a little slower and more challenging to start, offer strong units capable of taking out capitals early.
4) High Men (or Dwarves) with pure Sorcery offer a reasonably fast super unit. This is by far the strongest of the options, but also takes the longest to field. However, when you start as High Men it really doesn't take that long to get Paladins, and once you do they are essentially unstoppable when paired with Flight and Guardian Wind.
I find that any time I try some approach that doesn't provide these options, the early game is far more difficult and I often get stuck with the inability to take out an enemy wizard early because their capital is full of Sprites. Gearing to be able to defeat such capitals will generally set you up for success.
From my experience there a re few ways to handle this scenario early, which does a lot to dictate how I approach the game. Here are approaches that can be used to handle this common scenario, necessary for defeating many enemy wizard early on. In no particular order:
1) Hell Hounds: Generally, a full stack of Hell Hounds beats a full stack of Sprites, but you won't have much left when its over (which is fine).
2) Basilisks: Generally 2 can take a full stack of Sprites.
3) Shadow Demons: Again 2 is good.
4) Barbarian Cavalry: How many it takes depends on how they are buffed, what level they are, and if they have magic weapons. Generally, for aggressive play if you are using Barbarians you should have Warlord and Alchemy. If so, then, along with a Healing spell you can typically take a full stack of Sprites with as few as 3 Barb Cavs. It may require as many as 5 if they aren't well buffed or leveled.
5) Flying Paladins: Typically you can defeat a full stack of Sprites with a single unit of Flying Paladins, but be careful, if they gang up on you in melee range they could take the unit out. Still, with decent maneuvering a single Paladin is all it takes.
6) Doom Drakes: Between 2 and 4 are needed, depending on buffs and experience levels.
7) Horsebowmen: You can take a full stack of Sprites with 4 to 6 Horsebowmen, depending on the magic used and their experience.
8) Stag Beetles: Two Stag Beetles are able to do the job.
9) Dragon Turtles: 2 or 3 are needed.
10) Wyvern Riders: Not sure as I haven't tried this, but I'd assume 3 or 4 would be needed.
Not much else is really worth considering. I guess you can also use Slingers or Halfling Shamen, but as 1 movement, those just just aren't great offensively.
Of this, the fastest stack to get out is of course the Hell Hounds. This makes Chaos so powerful in the early game, with one of the best offenses. Rushing with Hell Hounds is always a good path to success.
Other summons that can work are Basilisks and Shadow Demons, but it can take a while to get those and they are much more expensive to cast, plus Shadow Demosn are quite slow on the map.
Barbarian Cavalry and Horsebowmen are other fairly fast options that are pretty solid. I'd say the Barbarian Cavs are a bit stronger than the Horesebowmen, but Nomads have a stronger late game than Barbarians.
Doom Drakes are also solid, though for as fast as it should be to get them out, it seems it usually takes a while to actually field an the first 3 Doom Drakes, and on Myrran you will often face capitals that are more difficult than just Sprites to deal with.
Stag Beetles, Dragon Turtles and Wyvern Riders, while all capable, take quite a while to field, and really who wants to play those races?
This leaves the flying Paladins. This is by far the surest best. Its true that Paladins can take a while to produce, but the thing is, once you have flying Paladins you can conquer pretty much anything. And it doesn't really take that long to get them out. If you rush for Paladins you can get them out fairly quickly assuming a decent starting position. You can do this with Sorcery if you use Nagas for early offense and post a couple of Nagas on defense in your capital as well. If you go with 9 or 10 Sorcery books you should be able to research Flight fairly quickly as well. I can often get it Flight by the time I am able to build Paladins.
I should note there that Dwarves with flying Golems can work much the same way as Paladins, so really that's another option.
So generally there are really just a few options that can give you a strong opening with the ability to take pretty much any wizard capital in the early game (assuming they didn't start with 11 books).
1) Chaos with Hells Hounds is a sure and fast bet.
2) Barbarians or Nomads provide fairly cheap and mobile units that can be built early on.
3) Draconians, while a little slower and more challenging to start, offer strong units capable of taking out capitals early.
4) High Men (or Dwarves) with pure Sorcery offer a reasonably fast super unit. This is by far the strongest of the options, but also takes the longest to field. However, when you start as High Men it really doesn't take that long to get Paladins, and once you do they are essentially unstoppable when paired with Flight and Guardian Wind.
I find that any time I try some approach that doesn't provide these options, the early game is far more difficult and I often get stuck with the inability to take out an enemy wizard early because their capital is full of Sprites. Gearing to be able to defeat such capitals will generally set you up for success.