It's impossible to play on Hard

[Urbz]

Originally Posted by mare911

I am not an expert but i can say from my experience (currently finishing impossible mage game):

As mage you will have hard time until the middle of Verona (in terms of progression)
Once you get more powerful res (paladins) and access to high tier spells game will be walk in the park (most enemies will be shown as lethal/invincible anyway)

P.S. try to get no-lose and trap medals in early game, they are great benefit later

This.

Also I would maybe try to switch out a melee unit ( the bears? ) and use for example archmages instead.( their magic shield will help reduce losses on tanks aswell ) Have your gotten the stone from the cave with sentry robots yet? ( you can kite away the boss robot if you're not bothered doing so. Since you will get some leadership bonusses, once from using the item and one after you turn it in and you get access to some new units in some buildings ( maybe paladins if lucky )
Get a main tank unit, cyclops can work ( i quite liked them in my last game ) but for example red or emerald dragons work too, you can let them soak up most hits especially if you buff them with some spells to make them even tougher.
Also in the cave behind zig zag there is a free emerald dragon if you can access it.
If you manage to get another map ( on rusty? ) you will get the map to Verona which is pretty big and has alot of shops where you might get new nice items/units.

Hope this helps you.
Good luck!