I was thinking
3 knights became 1 bear 1 horseguy 1 bladesman (bear: less movement, more power. horse: less armor, more movement. bladesman: knight clone ?)
1 assassin became 1 wolf pack (I like the empty squares = heal from Ach's idea. Needs to be slightly better than the assassin stats wise as assassin was generally underpowered.)
1 cleric became 1 priest (Cleric was a great starting point in TAO, but the exact heal number probably is either the starting point or the last stat added)
1 furgon became 1 earth elemental (Furgon is pretty balanced imo, maybe one less range or movement since no mud golem)
1 pryo/lightning ward became 1 fire elemental (Merging the LW with Pyro makes up for no DSM. LW can be defensive, Pyro aggressive, this would need pretty intense balancing)
1 dragon/beastrider became 1 giant eagle (flying unit, don't know how OP it would be. Flying over shrubs and units is powerful in itself)
1 enchantress/wisp became 1 pack of rats (some sort of defensive stall/poisoning)
1 scout became 1 archer (LOS was a huge strategic part of the game, copy pasta it at least in concept)


I was thinking of making an art for each unit dead as well. So when units died they would remain on the field for x turns then disappear afterwards. Dead units can't be walked through like Dragon Tyrant, Beast Rider, Berserker. That would add a defensive element to the game as when you all out attack your dead could get in the way, or you sac a weak unit block an attack while the priest recovers or whatever. Also sense no animation in the first version this would help visualize what is happening.

I think that blend of units would make a solid blend of grey and gold games. Could play into aggressive and defensive strategies.