Another idea is adding some high tier troops for them. Like some armoured wolfrides with charge and heavy armour or heavy front line troops with a lot of pikes(that can actually fight against armoured troopers).
While I feel heavily armored troops wouldn’t work out, I wonder if maybe having some units on the team that increase the vision range of goblin archers at night could be fun. Namely: goblin cavalry wielding torches and nets.
So, let’s pretend that there’s an elite cadre of goblin wolfriders whose job is to increase vision for ambushers at night. They rush up to the enemy army with lit torches, thus giving the ambushers vision of that area. They then toss nets onto the enemies rather than immediately engage, the better to slow them down, and start flanking like wolfriders already do. Alternatively, the torch could be their “shield” slot item instead. Give them bolas or javelins and they can do hit and run attacks with their thrown weapons while providing vision for their army.
While in the light of the torches, player units could have reduced ranged defense (thanks to being easier to see) on top of being seen by the goblin archers. The reason? It’s hard to see past the light of a torch, but easy to see into the light of a torch, so the humans and wolf riders caught in the torchlight would be easier to hit and less able to dodge weapons fired at them. (People didn’t actually go chasing things through the night with torches and pitchforks. Torches would give away their position and make it nigh impossible for them to find what they were after.)
Basically, if goblins get elite units, they should not be heavily armored. That doesn’t suit them. Instead, they should get a unit that adds something to the game that fits that weird goblin aesthetic and fighting style.
Heck, I’d actually enjoy seeing goblins riding giant spiders as a deadly sort of foe. They could have the ability to maneuver through normally impassable obstacles without difficulty (like trees and logs and large rocks).
