This is the best explanation of how you do it - cheers. I think shd was on about some exploit using Black Dragons and Invisibility as a way to have zero losses, but I forget what he said. That might have used Poison Cloud too.
For me, there are so many fights in the game (500-600) that I generally wanted them over as quickly as possible. I realise now that if I had been more efficient in the fights I could have completed the game quicker, but no matter. The great thing about this game is that about two months after the release, there are dozens of different strategies to use. It's such a diverse game.