I'm still thinking these 'special abilities' are machinations, but this seems to suggest otherwise. Perhaps they're good against fortifications? In woods? resistant to charges? please let us know if you find out!
Might be something to this. Thalmarkin's Vorian Elite really seem to come into their own against Daimons. My unit of ~35 generates more hits than even larger cavalry units doing a charge, and set to a wedge formation takes fewer hits than infantry units set to box. I don't
think my C being a Hero has anything to do with it, as roughly 1/3 of all unit commanders in Thalmarkin are Heroes, many also leading SF (There are two different flavors available, the second kind sorta meh statswise).
They one-shot monsters and stuff too but seem to take more casualties from less hits for whatever reason. Haven't had a chance to field them against other humans, and probably won't for the foreseeable future. They're 95 training and 95/60 equipment.