This province is elves territory, the humans have a much more difficult time battling these provinces.

WARNING: Be aware of the mistwalkers, there initiative is unbeatable disallowing you access to the sneak-peak tactic for free.

Beginner (Chapter 1-2-3): Choose anything the combat table tells you to use. most times you only face 2 or maybe 3 groups of enemies with little variation which make the base combat table viable
Agains the bandits use the sword dancer, against the light melee use your treant and against the orc generals use your archers.
when you find combinations of units try to take a unit with no weakness agains the enemy (example: against thiefs + bandits as your enemy use the sword dancer as it's strong agains the bandits and equal agains the thiefs)

Intermediate (Chapter 4-5-6): At the start of this phase your somewhat in trouble, as the golem II only unlocks at the beginning of chapter 5 and golem I is one of the worst units in game, but your enemies already start to diverse into larger groups of 3, 4 or 5 enemy troups your golem wil be to weak to use the advanced way to fight these provincies and the beginners way rarily works because your enemies will be a mix of 3 unit types. once you unlock the golem II you can slowly start to use a more carefull version of the advanced way to battle these provinces.
At the end of the dwarves (chapter 6) you unlock the granite golem that catapults you into the advanced section for good.

Advanced (chapter 7 and above): Use your golems to get rid of all the light melee and light ranged units. be aware that the orcs have a very high attack power but a much weaker defence. get rid of these ASAP. Also try to decimate the bandits before they try to withdraw behind the slowly advancing Orc Generals. this usually gives you a window of opportunity of about 2 rounds.
always mix in 1 or 2 archer units and try to keep them safely behind the golems. until they have done there job, once they have done there job withdraw your golems to a safe distance and let your archer do there job grinding down the orc generals.

Autocombat strategy: Be aware that the autocombat function sometimes creates strange results that simply makes no sense. take your loss, just negotiate and try again the next fight. or switch over to manual
If you are opposing a large force of orc generals with 1 light melee unit and maybe 1-2 units of bandits go all archers.
when your opposing 1 orc general and mutiple light melee/ranged units go all golems.
Mix and match in general doesnt work in this province, if your opposing a mixed group of light melee / orc generals just negotiate.
If you own a leveled Heroes Forge and the elder treant, battling and light melee /orc general group can somtimes be substituted by fielding 5 troups of treants. without the heroes forge you can only use this if the enemy is a lot weaker (tournament 1/2 star generals vs elder treant) If you own a decently leveled Needles of the Tempest, and your opposing a mixed group of bandits and orc generals, you can in general overpower the group with your extra powerfull archers.

the mortars are weak, there range advantage only works for 1-2 rounds after which there sitting ducks. and there simply not strong enough to overcome that with damage power. which they severly lack compared to for example the golem.
If your one of the advanced player that have reached and unlocked the orc strategist promotion at the halfling chapter, you will be able to use the advanced elves strategy replacing golem with strategists.
Priest could replace the crossbowmen, but I prefer the ability to "dance" around the map with more ability to simply outmaneuvre the orc generals.
Beginner (Chapter 1-2-3): Choose anything the combat table tells you to use. most times you only face 2 or maybe 3 groups of enemies with little variation which make the base combat table viable
Agains the bandits use the barbarian, against the light melee use your paladins and against the orc generals use your crossbowmen.
when you find combinations of units try to take a unit with no weakness agains the enemy (example: agains thiefs + bandits as your enemy use the Barbarian as it's strong against the bandits and equal agains the thiefs)

Intermediate & advanced (chapter 4+) Against a good mix of light melee / ranged your outmatched and better negotiate.
If your opposing a large force of bandits with some orc generals, your mortars should work. try to keep your crossbowmen out of harms way as long as your can since they need to deal with the orc generals. If your opposing a mix of light melee / orc generals with 1 troup of bandits. you can field 1 mortar to deal with the troup of bandits. field plenty of paladins to deal with the light melee, and the crossbowmen to finish of any left orc general. fortunatly the paladins aren't weak nor strong against the orc generals and are much more suited to assist your crossbowmen in battling them.
Agains masses of orc generals field your crossbowmen, if no bandits are present a lone paladin (to deal with the splash of light melee) with some priests is likely to be even more effective. autocombat strategy: Sorry I havent tested this enough at a decent level to give a good comment. next time I'll try to figure this one out for humans.