OK some simple tips, but they are a bit longish, but packed full of usefull warlord goodness.
Spoiler :
Start a warlord early, late game warlords dont have the time to promote up to high levels, the only exception i can think of is the tank more on that beasty later, every other warlord needs making in the first 3rd of the game, a mounted you can do in the middle stages.
Play epic/marathon speed, a decent warlord is hard to get on standard game speed
knowing how combat works is important, particulary how XP is earned
Your calculated combat str double or better than the unit you are fighting = 2 xp (with leadership)
Your calculated combat str less than double = 4 or more xp (with leadership) depending on the size of the str disparity lower disparity = even more XP, but at good odd's 4XP is the best you will get
Problem as soon as your str dips below double that of the unit your fighting the odd's start to come down
6str vs 4str is 90% odd's which look good but wont see your warlord live a long life, for that you need 99% odd's (i use 99.9, as you cant loose on these)
FS are key, a unit (gunpowder) with max FS i'e woods 3 + drill 1 - 4 will get 99% odd's on units were it's str is 50% better, so a to beat a unit of 8 str, your str needs to be 12 or better & as long as it's 16 or under you will get, 4xp for that fight, as you can see thats a big str range, and a fair bit of combat will fall into that, giving you a lot more XP overall.
Str is important but balance it to FS, basically as you can see above FS improve odd's without changing the underlying str mechanic so you can get good XP even at 99% combat odd's, you want lots of FS coupled to str that falls in the 50 to 100% better than the units you fight most often (usually city defender units)
Good early warlord is the swordsman, ideally you want a swordsman of at least 10xp, these are the promotions you need, leadership (goes without saying) city raider 1,2,3 & then a couple of combat stars to get the base str up a bit, after than woodsman 1,2,3, you might want to hold off further promotions so when you upgrade to gunpoweder you can bang a load of FS on, FS an str in balance gives the best combat promotions
The best place to find stationary enemy units is cities the CR promo's are essential for any warlord that can get them
Woodsman for 3 important reasons, first is def bonus is very good in terrain that is plentiful at the start so it keeps your warlord safe from counter attack, second is the healing bonus lets your warlord and stack heal much more nicely so he's more than just a big set of muscles but a good unit to have around in your stack, an lastly the FS which are crucial to getting decent XP,
A early catapult makes a good warlord, because siege units dont actually kill there intended targets, you can do the following, find a nice small enemy city with a hill or forest next to it, stick a a few swordsmen there, bring 3 catapults, now this city will likely have 1 or 2 archers defending, kill 1 with whichever non warlord unit gets the best odd's, attack the other with a catapult (not warlord), if the catapult lives or dies is irelevent, you now have 1 crap archer, your warlord cataputl should be 99% on to win the fight, or you may have to wait a turn for the archer to get enough str back that you are allowed to attack, simply hit the archer everyturn with your warlord catapult leave a swordsmen or 2 behind fortified on the tile for protection, if your warlord takes some dmg, have the other catapult pick up the slack while he heals, you now have a nice little XP factory going and by the time it's over you could have a huge number of XP, this warlord may be crap an tedious to promote now (catapults dont have great base str) but once you beeline for steel, you will have a cannon to strike terror into the toughest of defenders, and cannons, artilery an mobile artiley all have good attack str unlike catapults so a little tedium at the start can pay back nicely later
Please note catapults only ever get 2xp (with leadership) so drills should be added after str on this warlord, since combat XP is capped at 1 xp per win regardless of str disparity
Mounted, they make quite good warlords because they get blitz + morale which allows 3 attacks per turn, soften a cities defenders to much with some siege, an bang bang bang thats 3 dead troops an 6 xp for you, so this warlord can get quite a lot of XP even if it's made halfway through
Tank, the ultimate warlord, high base str, city raider promo's, + access to FS + blitz its the combo to die for
You should also get the gurilla promos and stick to def terrain on a high XP warlord, hill def of 75% or forest of 100% + combat 6 (another 75%) + all the FS = a unit that needs serious an i mean serious effort to remove, i've held off attacks of 30+ units and taken no damage in the processs and it's because when your combat str is double or more of your enemy an you have lots of FS your odd's of winning without damage are in the 99 range so you can fight over an over an over again round after round.
A honoury mention must go to the samurai, because this unit starts with drill 1 an gets 2 FS you can get the drill 1 - 4 promo's much earlier, because with woods 3 + drill 1 - 4 you have 7 - 10 FS you can earn 4 xp on a awful lot of combat, i had a game online with a friend a while back (marathon speed) an the mech inf warlord (startd as a swordsmen) finnished on a huge XP total (nearing a 1000!!), now i'l be the first to admitt thats not par the course, but getting a high xp warlord without reloads is do able after you get used to how an when to use it, and getting to the 170/280 range is readily achievable in combat intensive games on epic or marathon.
Play epic/marathon speed, a decent warlord is hard to get on standard game speed
knowing how combat works is important, particulary how XP is earned
Your calculated combat str double or better than the unit you are fighting = 2 xp (with leadership)
Your calculated combat str less than double = 4 or more xp (with leadership) depending on the size of the str disparity lower disparity = even more XP, but at good odd's 4XP is the best you will get
Problem as soon as your str dips below double that of the unit your fighting the odd's start to come down
6str vs 4str is 90% odd's which look good but wont see your warlord live a long life, for that you need 99% odd's (i use 99.9, as you cant loose on these)
FS are key, a unit (gunpowder) with max FS i'e woods 3 + drill 1 - 4 will get 99% odd's on units were it's str is 50% better, so a to beat a unit of 8 str, your str needs to be 12 or better & as long as it's 16 or under you will get, 4xp for that fight, as you can see thats a big str range, and a fair bit of combat will fall into that, giving you a lot more XP overall.
Str is important but balance it to FS, basically as you can see above FS improve odd's without changing the underlying str mechanic so you can get good XP even at 99% combat odd's, you want lots of FS coupled to str that falls in the 50 to 100% better than the units you fight most often (usually city defender units)
Good early warlord is the swordsman, ideally you want a swordsman of at least 10xp, these are the promotions you need, leadership (goes without saying) city raider 1,2,3 & then a couple of combat stars to get the base str up a bit, after than woodsman 1,2,3, you might want to hold off further promotions so when you upgrade to gunpoweder you can bang a load of FS on, FS an str in balance gives the best combat promotions
The best place to find stationary enemy units is cities the CR promo's are essential for any warlord that can get them
Woodsman for 3 important reasons, first is def bonus is very good in terrain that is plentiful at the start so it keeps your warlord safe from counter attack, second is the healing bonus lets your warlord and stack heal much more nicely so he's more than just a big set of muscles but a good unit to have around in your stack, an lastly the FS which are crucial to getting decent XP,
A early catapult makes a good warlord, because siege units dont actually kill there intended targets, you can do the following, find a nice small enemy city with a hill or forest next to it, stick a a few swordsmen there, bring 3 catapults, now this city will likely have 1 or 2 archers defending, kill 1 with whichever non warlord unit gets the best odd's, attack the other with a catapult (not warlord), if the catapult lives or dies is irelevent, you now have 1 crap archer, your warlord cataputl should be 99% on to win the fight, or you may have to wait a turn for the archer to get enough str back that you are allowed to attack, simply hit the archer everyturn with your warlord catapult leave a swordsmen or 2 behind fortified on the tile for protection, if your warlord takes some dmg, have the other catapult pick up the slack while he heals, you now have a nice little XP factory going and by the time it's over you could have a huge number of XP, this warlord may be crap an tedious to promote now (catapults dont have great base str) but once you beeline for steel, you will have a cannon to strike terror into the toughest of defenders, and cannons, artilery an mobile artiley all have good attack str unlike catapults so a little tedium at the start can pay back nicely later
Please note catapults only ever get 2xp (with leadership) so drills should be added after str on this warlord, since combat XP is capped at 1 xp per win regardless of str disparity
Mounted, they make quite good warlords because they get blitz + morale which allows 3 attacks per turn, soften a cities defenders to much with some siege, an bang bang bang thats 3 dead troops an 6 xp for you, so this warlord can get quite a lot of XP even if it's made halfway through
Tank, the ultimate warlord, high base str, city raider promo's, + access to FS + blitz its the combo to die for
You should also get the gurilla promos and stick to def terrain on a high XP warlord, hill def of 75% or forest of 100% + combat 6 (another 75%) + all the FS = a unit that needs serious an i mean serious effort to remove, i've held off attacks of 30+ units and taken no damage in the processs and it's because when your combat str is double or more of your enemy an you have lots of FS your odd's of winning without damage are in the 99 range so you can fight over an over an over again round after round.
A honoury mention must go to the samurai, because this unit starts with drill 1 an gets 2 FS you can get the drill 1 - 4 promo's much earlier, because with woods 3 + drill 1 - 4 you have 7 - 10 FS you can earn 4 xp on a awful lot of combat, i had a game online with a friend a while back (marathon speed) an the mech inf warlord (startd as a swordsmen) finnished on a huge XP total (nearing a 1000!!), now i'l be the first to admitt thats not par the course, but getting a high xp warlord without reloads is do able after you get used to how an when to use it, and getting to the 170/280 range is readily achievable in combat intensive games on epic or marathon.
But I just learned how healing really works today so gonna try again. 
! Stupid comp... 
