in fact with the mage it was the hardest :p
you should play a warrior and see how u breeze through the game
the high attack and defense will give your troops a big boost
i think warrior + invisible green dragon is still an option in most cases
it just takes longer than with the mage in that case
i can't remember who it was but i think it was loreanangelicus(correct me if i'm wrong)
but he used an undead party especially cursed ghost
because they regenerate and ancient vamps
(i don't know the details but those units were focussed upon
in KB:TL u can get lucky and get a ancient vampire in BAT form(which gives u very high initiative
so cast invisibility on that and u know the drill
and furthermore u forget alot of things
in KB"TL u had a rage box
(lin's balls, rage income, turn back, and the orb from the green thing forgot his name)
those were a lot better than in KB;AP