[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Ctis is a great race. The early era host a distinct lack of archers and scouts, however. You can get those in independent provinces, and I recommend doing so. Defenders usually match the pop-type, so you can find archers that way. Scouts are a bit more of a hit-miss affair, so you'll want to summon undead scouts, i.e. a Black Servant. You have more than enough death gems to do so, and its a low-level spell. You can use them for other things later. As well, your nationals are all coldblooded. This won't effect you much in your own territory, but it does mean you'll have trouble invading (and they'll conversely have trouble invading you) colder nations such as Caelum and Niefelheim.

Ulms a nice race, lacks cavalry, but has quite a few archery and stealth options. No experience with them.

For both these races the resource cost per unit is fairly affordable. But you will want a lot of them, they're good and not high in gold cost. You'll need to put some care in the placement of your forts and the resulting resource production. Blesses can be useful in battle, but will not be central to your strategy. You have some useful sacreds, but you cannot (or should not) produce them in large numbers.

I don't know if they're right for you, but you may want to give Sauromatia a whirl. They've got plenty of unit choices, as long as what you're looking for is not infantry.