So, how do you play this game?

[johan osterman]

No benefit from binding multiple airs or water. As for critters instead of lords I don't recall that in particular but it isn't a bug, just a bit of randomness.

[Valrog]

Ah I just figured out that there is a cap on the number of leaders you can have. The cap itself could be dynamic, depending on some unknown factors.

When I demoted one of my leaders and summoned one the elemental lord became a leader as normal.

[johan osterman]

Well in that case you are correct. I didn't quite understand that what you were getting was a non commander version of the lord. There is a cap on the number of leaders as well as the number of units. The game is old and was originally developed on much much slower computers, so there are a few of those limits like that in the game.

[Taqwus]

Ahhh, interesting. I was wondering why my Efreet was a non-commander -- a very, very powerful one, but not a leader.