a goblin grunt could deal 2 damage as well to become veteran, deal or receive 2x level damage. Orc butcher only needs to roll 4 damage. Don't think either one of those is too hard to do, even without enchantments or orders.
Also want to point soldiers not in school are awesome, tons of skeletons, tons of holy dudes(KnightofWestlock) tons of stuff from PvsS
The impact of soldier subtype is pretty big, orders plus some incantations, veteran token for himself and armory. Soldier subtype is way big, not way small
The 2x damage change would be fine for Orc Butchers, because they have have a decent amount of health. Goblin Grunts, on the other hand, have 0 armor and 4 health, making them one of the easiest creatures to kill in the entire game. Let's say you do manage to have everything go according to plan. You get a fresh Goblin Grunt into position, get a good roll against a low-armor opponent, and it becomes a veteran. You now have to wait an entire turn to be able to make use of the melee +1, and in the meantime, what are the odds that your opponent won't just murder your goblin? Even with the armor +1, most level 2 or greater creatures would have a good chance of killing the goblin with either a 3 dice +1 piercing attack or a 4 dice one. Sure, your idea is better than the official veterans implementation, but it still isn't ideal in my opinion.
There are exactly 4 different skeleton soldier creatures (not counting Academy ones, if any). Even if they were in-school, they don't seem worth playing over equivalent War creatures for the Warlord. Mort is decent for his taint condition and survivability, but he's too costly to play without going all-in on a skeleton army. Skeletal Minions are almost as bad as Goblin Grunts, and you can't buff them with Nature enchantments or heal them via normal means. Skeletal Knights and Knights of Westlock are decent defenders, but if you want to go defensive just use Dwarf Panzergardes instead. The only out of school soldiers I would even consider using (other than legendaries) would be the Skeletal Archer and/or Royal Archer, because quite frankly Goblin Slingers are terrible. Skeletons are pretty much only good if you are a necromancer, because otherwise it is hard to get them to synergize properly. If you want to play stuff that is nonliving and psychic immune, why not just use Iron Golem?
I forgot about the vet token for himself, which would be weird but nice. Still, I don't think a relatively free couple of armor and a melee +1 would make him competitive (and by your own rules, the Warlord would need to either take or dish out 12 damage before getting that veteran token). You can already get similar buffs by slapping on a Rhino Hide or similar Nature enchantments (although of course those can be dispelled).
I like the Idea of allowing warlords to somehow become soldiers, but I wouldn't do it by errata.
Just like the Warlock got the Demonhide Mask that makes him a demon while attacking, so could the Warlord academy expansion include a "Soldier Cloak" that allows Warlords to be counted as soldiers during attack resolution (of either their attacks or attacks against them). It could also allow them to benefit from their own battle orders as an additional effect. If you are a bloodwave with that "Soldier Cloak", it actually means that your mage could get veteran tokens, as the destruction of enemy creatures could happen during attack resolution
If you want to help the bloodwave warlord more, then you could just create spells that make synergies for orcs, just like you have Slaknir for the goblins and Redclaw Alpha for canine.
Agreed. I can easily see Arcane Wonders coming out with a Soldier's Helmet or Soldier's Cloak card to give the Warlord the soldier subtype under certain circumstances. Keep in mind, however, that veteran tokens do not stack, so the Warlord could only ever get 1. The problem with just buffing up goblin and orc strategies is that there is nothing from stopping the Dwarf Warlord from using goblins and orcs, just like nothing is stopping the Bloodwave Warlord from using dwarf creatures.