Kiting on impossible?

[Zechnophobe]

Yeah, that looks like a lot of good units that don't combine at all well. Can't only give extra turns to the demonologists, can't use paladin's rezz ability except on the demonologist, Paladin's and black knights get left behind while black dragon does most of the work.

As for restarting combats, I don't really do it that often. Only for big tough battles, I might try 2 or 3 times if things don't go well. Are you also doing a 'no reload' run?