[Stretch]

Ettins are fun as an early thug that you can turn into a decent anti-thug. It's got basic resistances and great ambidexterity so if you've got some blood slaves you can give it 3 flesh eaters and a warrior ring and have it do a pretty good at guarding a sideline or backing up another thug to take out an SC. It's also handy with a lucky amulet as a cheap throwaway to counter life-for-a-life spam (targets highest HP unit).

Krakens are a great unit for a non-water nation to jump into the water with. They have decent some base resistances, high HP, good attack against high-defense or high-prot units, recuperation and can handle raiders very well. If you get 2 of them you barely even need to bother with reinvigoration unless someone's making a serious push into the water. Luck amulet + girdle of might + antimagic amulet work well, especially with earth picks where you can ironskin + holdx4 + attack