[Covenant]

The sword warriors are pretty worthless. The axe guys are only minorly use it as cheap 10/10 axe-chuckers, but even then you gott ask yourself if a short-range axe chucker is worth the cost of an archer. Their accuracy is bad too.

Against most basic infantry the Steel Maidens are much more useful. Their weapons do more than enough damage to mangle troops, and they consistantly double-hit. If you divide them up into small groups instead of large lumps they can swarm over troops and really cut them up badly. Sending in a small pile of axemen is possible... but why?

It'd be better to use the Shield Maidens. Same cost, better use. So shield blockers with steel maidens on the sides.

Also, something that's rarely mentioned are the Iron Warriors. Attack of 12 with a Maul, they have excellent to-hit characteristics with high damage output. As always they lack shields and aren't exactly stealthy, but if you need to attack targets that are too durable for Steel Maidens, sending in Iron Warriors is a good alternative. They have heavy armor and can fend off attacks, and do serious damage to things. They're basically as good as the Steel Warrior sacreds, and your best mass-produced alternative to high-durability units outside of summons. They're also relatively cheap. But the Steel Maidens are still superior against most units due to their efficent 2-strike combos.