I've always found spamming pet dragon eggs to be the easiest way to compensate for low leadership in fights where you are seriously out numbered. Especially early game on Scarlet and Bolo.
If you're a mage, make sure you go into the fight with your rage full, then lay your pet dragon egg and use debuff spells like slow, etc to keep the enemy back until the egg hatches. You should be able to produce one every second turn that way.
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