They may look good but their abilities suck compared to the abilities the other factions are getting.
Gremlin Saboteur - Shooter, Sabotage
Gremlins will be able to paralyze any mechanical unit on the battlefield (golems, ammo carts, tents, town towers) for one turn, if the unit’s total hit points are lower than gremlins
So they can skip a turn to keep one tower or one war machine from functioning for one turn if you have a huge stack of them. And please don't mention miniartifacts because it takes a powerful wizard to make good artifacts to begin with and miniartifacts are impossible to build except on resource rich large maps.
Useless ability.
Marble Gargoyle - Flying, Elemental, Enraged, Elemental Aura, Elemental Vulnerability
Gargoyles and all creatures (including allies) standing near them will receive 1,5 times more damage from fire, air and water based spells.
This is worse than useless. This hurts the academy, not helps it. The academy has poor spell power and has light magic and summoning in its guild, not destruction. Gargoyles are needed for defending mages/gremlins and can't do that now since they will now be making the enemy's spells stronger.
Obsidian Golem - Mechanical, Obsidian Sphere, Destructive Magnetism
Obsidian golems are immune to all spells excluding those dealing damage. Every spell that deals magical damage heals and resurrects golems. The amount of restored hitpoints equals to 50% of the damage, which would have been dealt by the magical attack. At the start of the battle, golems receive “Obsidian sphere” that zeroes damage from destruction spells. If the golem stack was somehow damaged, next magical attack that hits them will heal the stack. If the golems suffer from area spell together with allied units, they will transfer portion of the damage to themselves.
Another special that depends on destruction magic rather than the academy's native summoning and light magic.
It may be an ok ability but nothing stellar really.
Combat Mage - Shooter, No Range Penalty, Caster (Fist Of Rage, Cleansing), Magic Aura
Battle mages have a little amount of spells, their shoot only hits one target.
Why fewer spells if they lose the magic ray attack?
So the mages lose the ray attack and lose fireball and righteous might. Fist sucks for the most part.
What is the magic aura?
Djinn Vizier - Large Creature, Flyer, Player Of Chance
Genies – viziers can increase luck for friendly creatures and decrease it for enemy creatures. They can do that three times per battle. It is possible to do so on a single unit only once per battle.
Useless. Why can't the genies be either decent spell casters (like in all mythology) or decent melee creatures?
Rakshasa Kshatri - Large Creature, Rush, Tornado
Rakshasa princess can break through six tiles in front of them.
Don't know what this means.
Storm Lord - Large Creature, Ranged, Immunity To Mind Spells, No Melee Penalty, Storm Call
Colossus can summon 3x3 tile sized cloud to any place on the battlefield; every creature that gets under the cloud receives 10 points of damage for each colossus that summoned the cloud. Shooters under the cloud receive 1% penalty to ranged attack for each colossus.
Useless.
GOW
Frodo: "I wish the ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had happened."
Gandalf: "So do all who live to see such times but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."