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I most do melee only since I have more luck there. Plus I also like for two reasons; one for my own persona views and two for they ARE useless in close encounters, even if your own archer is too unlucky to be stuck by a critical.

BTW, you new here?

I like archers. I think bows and arrows are cool. But, for my group, it's the Generals who get the job done while Sages are there on the offchance said Generals need healing. I'd say Melee and Magic, though if an archer turns out good, I won't turn one down.

I tend to balance it out as well as I can, but I lean more to magic and melee because of the lack of units who are archers.

I usually end up using only one, maybe two archers. It's very rare for me to have three or more people who have bows out on the field at one time. In fact, the only two situations I can think of that has happened to me when more than two archers were on the field was when I was got Lyn/Rath and Rebecca/Wil A supports, and I didn't want to leave Wil and Rebecca behind, and the chapter where you get Pent and Louise, and I happened to also have a combonation of Rath, Wil, or Rebecca on the field, since that is the chapter I usually promote Lyn in, and I always give her an Iron Bow.

I try to give all my magic users a chance, because my best units tend to be magic users, although sometimes I decide beforehand who my dominant anima or light magic user is due to supports. I would still use the others, however, but just not as much. Due to this, I usually have to use the secret shops to buy extra guiding rings.
I've always had a bit of enjoyment seeing the enemy units get hit by Fire, Flux or Lightning. :3

Melee people, though, it's usually more of a situation of "If I'm aiming to get a support that you can get, then you have a chance. Otherwise, you're holding promotion items and stat boosters when the convoy gets full."
No matter what, however, I always have to have some sword users, a few axe users, and a flier.
The reason why I didn't say lance-users is because I usually play FE7, where your lance users in the beginning are cavaliers and Oswin, and I usually don't use knights for some reason or another. (Amelia is the acception to this rule.)

Overall, for offense, I use all three groups, but for defense, I rely more on the melee and magic due to their ability to be able to fight back when directly attacked.

I like melee with a bit of magic. The melee units have to have a lot of defense or speed though, because I hate healing. My magic units I tend to give speed wings to to increase their evasiveness. razz

The only time I will use archers are if they can also wield a melee weapon, or if it's Shinon.

SPEAKING of archers and melee weapons, why can't they make it to where they can use knives? It would make sense.

Defense? Pah! Who needs it! Berserkers and Warriors for the win. Sure, they can't hit things often, but when they do, they can take out just about anything in a single hit. Considering almost every hit is critical. And with the right support conversations, it's even better. Mm-hm, mm-hm...
Despite all of that... I do bring archers and healers. For versatility's sake. I try to use a weapon user of each type every stage I can.

And so I have voiced my opinion, after many moons of being away.
... >.>; Not that anyone noticed, I'm sure. XD

Archers are more like utility characters, in my opinion. They're rarely your best characters, but if you use them, they can really come in handy.

Magic users are good for their varied range, but typically suffer low defense. So, in an area for defense, they can be very useful. Like in the GBA games, where you can attack over walls. xD

Melee provides the most variety. Also, your Lords tend to be of the melee class, and melee can handle the most units. Their typical problem is low Resistance, so against mages, some can't hold a candle up against them.

For my favorite... I really like the flying units. Pegasi and wyvern riders. I also love units that use lances (Nepheneeeee~) and the healers. You'd lose without them, and you know it! xD

It's good to keep a nice balance. Too many mages makes your army fragile, too many melee characters makes your army vulnerable to enemy mages.

Archers get kinda god-modding in Radiant Dawn, though. XD Shinon + Double Bow (2-3 range) + Marksman (inherently able to attack space next to unit) = HAX.