With the suggestion of turning Mirkwood Palace Guards into heroic units, I started thinking about the possible implications on the Lothlórien faction. I realised that without affecting the core of the faction too much, leaving it very much as it's current concept, the amount of units the faction can dispose of does not have to change. Let me explain.
Step 1) The Lórien Pikemen are removed. They are not useful due to their low armour values: this makes them vulnerable against constant cavalry assaults, or to any other type of unit in direct combat. They only have speed in their favour, but in the mid-game this is replaced with the superiority of Mirkwood units, especially the Palace Guard in dealing with cavalry extremely well and infantry reasonably well. The removal makes space for a new anti-cavalry unit, namely your Woodmen of the Anduin Vales
Step 2) The Woodmen of the Anduin Vales are introduced in the Beorninger Hut. They form the early and mid-game option against cavalry charges, which have become even more of a weakness for Lórien. They will carry spears and will get an ability that emphasises their role in defending their own home grounds as well as now protecting Lórien's borders.
Step 3) The Mirkwood Palace Guard is turned into a heroic unit battalion. In the Mirkwood subfaction there is no need for another anti-cavalry unit (such as would be introduced as Mirkwood Spearmen). As of now there exist also the Elkriders who have an ability that makes them very efficient against cavalry charges. It will make the Mirkwood more necessary in Lórien's gameplay but I believe this is for good strategical balance and challenge, because it makes its general weakness against cavalry harder to neutralise. I will elaborate more on the Palace Guard's abilities in their own topic (of Suggestions).
On the Woodmen of the Anduin ValesAs mentioned above, I have found a place within the Lórien faction that could be assigned to the Woodmen of Anduin: base defence. It is said in Tolkien's description of them that they would rarely leave their home grounds, and were mainly occupied with defending them against the Orcs and other evil creatures coming down from the Misty Mountains and Mirkwood (I now see their land was completely screwed
). Fredius indicated that for him this new unit would be needed to defend the settlements of Lórien, and I have come to reach common ground with him about this. My suggestion would link these units closely to defending outer settlements as well as the Lórien base, so as to suggest they were more out in the open.
I want to propose they get a passive ability that increases their armour slightly whenever they are near an allied building, and which gives a small damage boost when they are near an allied building under attack.
I hope to see your contributions on this ability.