Reasonable start first 1 hour?

[BB Shockwave]

I think that's close to cheating...

Poison cloud was a cheat before patch 1.7 anyway. For me, in some case it attacked enemies 5-6 times inbetween 2 units taking a turn. And a funny thing - if I used Hypnotize with my Evil beholders on units under poison cloud, they too damage before taking their turn, and afterwards I could actually control them (use talents, etc.) as if I'd have cast the regular Hypnotize spell.