Playin impossible mage, might need help

[megajon]

Kinda hittin a dead end in dwarf land right now... supposed to free the castle to get the treaty signed... but I get my ass kicked in that fight.

Fastest unit I have is dwarven cannon, and nearly every demon goes before them. I wish I had enough might runes to get the +initiative talents but I am still a lil ways off from that.

My current army is-
Griffin around 78
Evil Beholder 39
Cannoneer 32
Archmage 39
Orc Shaman 39

27 int, 99 mana
higher magic I
Chaos III
Distortion III

I have no problem taking controll against armies I win initiative on, but these guys all through the field into total chaos before I get a move.

Just wonderin if there is some initiative 7+ guys I am missing to this point.. What about those lake spirits you get at the start of the game? Should I garrison my army and stock up on them through defeats? I have the ring that gives females +3 initiative/everything else... does it work on them?

[travelingoz]

you could swap the 15 sprites with your griffins or whatever. Then you will get first turn. I would cast mass magic shackles first, then you're free to party!

[megajon]

word, that's what I was thinkin as well =)

oh that's right! they were sprites! Should definately work with the ring

[Ryastar]

I would also consider switching in giants for the archmagi. All demon troops are land-based, iirc, so the giant's earthquake should be able to do ridiculous amounts of damage, as well as surviving really well.

On another note, if you do use sprites, you will suffer a morale loss to your cannoneers, (and giants, if you add them), so think carefully before you do that.

[megajon]

I used giants, but they have such a high leadership rating, that as a mage I can only get 4 of them... so I opted for 87 griffins instead... I like the arch mages simply because I am currently using a phantom griffin army strat and the shield prolongs the life of my double phantom griffin stacks I drop in the enemy front ranks turn 1. Turn 2 I mana spring the other stack. makes for lots of rage/mana gain. The following turns I clone my orc shamans and make a totem forest. I will likely use giants when I go warrior impossible next, and the boots that make my slowest unit gain +1 move.

[megajon]

I guess I will replace my cannoneers with sprites, and conceed to loose my endless supply of griffins this fight... and drop 4 griffin stacks in thier front line on turn 1.