[Verjigorm]

"Massed" Mothers of Avalon are quite powerful without equipment. The problem is that you have to sacrifice research to use them in combat. They spam buffs, lightning bolts, soothing song (to keep themselves firing continuously), and breath of the dragon depending on type. A mix of them makes for a good attack force--mix them in with the longbowmen who act as their screen.

I use bards extensively. At least one of my many castles produces one a turn. I insert them into enemy lands just to watch in provinces that are not going to be heavily patrolled adjacent to castles. Then, whenever I'm ready to go, swarm them onto the castles and Incite. 5 Bards can shut down the enemy capitol in 1-2 turns and can remain hidden even under relatively aggressive patrols.

As for the Knights/KoA, they have a tendency to create money problems. I like the long spearmen and tower guards. I love the KoA, and hire lots of them. Rejuvenation means that when you get injured ones, you can pull out the wounded ones ("w" hotkey in army setup) and let them recover--operating as guards until they're better. I use the N3s to summon.

Foresters: They have 12 Precision. I put magic bows on them and add them to my armies set on Fire Rearmost to take out back-line mages. Vision's Foes and BBOB can easily take out SCs with extremely cheap units.

Crones: You can recruit them early on. When they get diseased, stick a Lycanthropos' Amulet on them. Easier to get in Man than Boots of Youth when you don't have a blood economy. The other option is Elixir of Life. Both options are more expensive than Boots of Youth, granted, but using scouts or indie commanders to hunt blood slaves takes forever and it's kind of a waste of time to hunt slaves for boots with your pretender. If you're making a crone a turn, you won't be able to handle the necessary output without tying down your pretender until you empower someone which probably won't be efficient until after you start making dousing rods.

By the time you add up all of the ramp-up time, you've been avoiding your best mages for a very long time just because they don't pop out immortal. In Abysia, 90% of your mages are always old even the little ones, but that won't stop you from hiring them. Not hiring crones because you don't have boots of youth is a bad idea.