An old but decent game is Battle for Wesnoth:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/599390/Battle_for_Wesnoth/
It's a turn based fantasy wargame similar to the heroes of might and magic series.
Nothing like the games you named but a good Android RPG with tactical turn based battles and truly free. No ads. No IAPs. If you like it, the developer made a couple paid sequels.
I made one called Forward Line. It's free to play on Android. I'm currently making a multiplayer tournament system for it but I can't say when I'll be finished. Not a full time developer yet!
It is important to know that the game "Age of modern war" is of extreme quality, due to its creative elements, such as maps, modern military units and technology proportional to time, in addition to its extraordinary gameplay. to different military units from other countries, armies such as the USA, RUSSIA (USSR), China, NATO, United Kingdom and some others. your enemy in a battle. The game also has maps that recount battles that happened in history such as Vietnam, North Korea and also some alternative maps in which you face enemies and much more. This game was produced by the company Zero Touch Group, that has several game catalogs and that demonstrates a vast experience when it comes to producing high quality games, in the end this is a great game for those who want to discover new airs in strategy games. ias and themed of a modern and also challenging war https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zts.ageofmodernwars
It is important to know that the game "Age of modern war" is of extreme quality, due to its creative elements, such as maps, modern military units and technology proportional to time, in addition to its extraordinary gameplay. to different military units from other countries, armies such as the USA, RUSSIA (USSR), China, NATO, United Kingdom and some others. your enemy in a battle. The game also has maps that recount battles that happened in history such as Vietnam, North Korea and also some alternative maps in which you face enemies and much more. This game was produced by the company Zero Touch Group, that has several game catalogs and that demonstrates a vast experience when it comes to producing high quality games, in the end this is a great game for those who want to discover new airs in strategy games. ias and themed of a modern and also challenging war https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.zts.ageofmodernwars
I was about to suggest just that.
Elves in WHTW 2 are really coold, and there are a lot of elven variety!
AoW 3 is also solid but I didn't play the campaign much, so I don't know how elf centric it is.
Note that the AoW 1 game had an awesome solo campaign entirely focused on elves. You should try it if you haven't. AoW1 is the best of the series hand down when it comes to Single Player IMO.
HOMM usually aren't very lore heavy.
I think Heroes of Annihilated Empires (gog.com) was focused on the elf faction, but I am not sure I recall correctly.
You could also try the turn based Elven Legacy games. They are dated, and the 3D doesn't really hold out today, but they are still very good if you like the Fantasy General formula.
personally i don't like the (only) mobile strategy games that focus on resource management like Clash Royale... which is cloned by Warhammer 40k. Monster legends looks like it's also a clone, but i am basing this off of screen shots from google play. The fact they are Pay to Win only, because you can't really do anything if you're f2p except waste your time.
i love the HoMM is a sad rip off the games it is named after, and the auto-battle function is limitting. I don't recommend this game
One game I really enjoyed was Knight of Ages but stopped playing because they migrated support to only Facebook. but this game was great. you have to 'breed' warriors with all the lineage and stats considered, with a RNG factor, it was amazing what you could produce. the battle mechanics was very fun with Turn Based Tactics. the one thing i really loved was that your heroes aged and they can sustain permanent injuries, which affect stats and life of the hero.
well most 4x games are going to be slow, if you turn up the speed on civ 5, then that will be the fastest I know of, however he might enjoy a real-time strategy game.
A great and easy to run game is openRA, if your and your friend enjoy that game then perhaps you should try some other real-time strategy games.
The Battle for Wesnoth. Free, open source fantasy tactical turn-based strategy game. Multiplayer? Check. Hotseat? Check. Moddable? Check. Free? Check! Continually gets better, year after year. (And now on Steam Greenlight!)
Yggdra Union is missing, as well, just from what I know.
Also, 2 seconds on google gave me this : http://www.listal.com/list/game-boy-advance-turnbased-games
Which reminded me that I forgot about the Super Robot games... Oh, and the Shining Force remake.
I think that Risk is the gmae for you!
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.hasbro.riskbigscreen&hl=en_US&gl=US
If you want a mobile strategy game with no violence I'll suggest Antiyoy, a clone of Slay, an old strategy game which is also available for Android, but costs more than Antiyoy. The game is rather simple in rules, but deep enough to be interesting.