How do generals buff the army?

[Wonder Waffles]

I get that stategist give you mora ammo but for example if you have a vanguard with green units are those units gonna benefit in some way or should i have 6 cavalry with them.

[RCMidas]

They buff them with either skills or stats, regardless of what exact kind of general they are. For example, any general can have basic archer units in their retinue - these units get more ammo as their leader's Cunning stat goes up. Strategists have higher Cunning and can increase it more easily, so they are the best for running archers. Basically:

The Authority stat boosts the morale of the general's retinue.
The Cunning stat boosts the ammo of the general's retinue.
The Resolve stat boosts the health of the general themselves.
The Expertise stats boosts the melee evasion of the general themselves.
The Instinct stat reduces the entire army's recruitment costs.

Some skills provide specific boosts to specific units, others give a more generic benefit. For example, the skill Trust increases the armour of spear infantry in that general's retinue by 10%; whilst the skill Zeal increases the melee armour-piercing damage of the whole army by 10%.

Now, if you have a Vanguard (red) general with a bunch of green units, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Many Vanguard skills are best suited for cavalry, but can help other units too. Things like charge speed and running speed make even (ideally non-spear) infantry good at launching sudden charges into enemy lines; even though they would obviously benefit cavalry more.

Yes, eventually you want to switch around your units until each general has a retinue of the same colour as themselves, or is at least 50% the same colour as themselves. Having a mix of green and purple infantry is fine, as is a mix of red and yellow cavalry. Strategists, realistically, should stick to pure archer and trebuchet retinues though (long-term, consider giving Strategists the odd retinue of Horse Archers - sure, they have fewer models and so their missile damage is lower, but they can harry enemy troops and hit them in their unshielded sides much more effectively!).

[No gf]

Red, green and purple are general stats that doesn't affect the army in battle. However since unit recruitment were exclusive to corresponding general type there's really no choice but to bring a champion if you want that spear square formation.

[Wonder Waffles]

thanks i think i get better now

[Nylan]

That's a pretty good write up on generals. I would add though to be sure and include some form of anti cav infantry. Say you're running with a Sentinel instead of a champion you have a line of shielded assault soldiers with increased evasion from his skill, but they are easily countered by cav. Now you might bring 2-3 Ji infantry on your Vanguard to strengthen your battle line so it holds longer and your cav can get in more charges.