Yep, Armageddon + Glot's Shield is always good. Time Back works nicely too. I kinda feel like Armageddon is cheating a bit though. It makes the game too easy.
I never got to level 30 in four games either, so I can't help you there. I guess you need to max the Experience skill early in the game, which is easiest for a Paladin.
In terms of winning faster...the experts can finish the game in less than 15 days. It takes me about 30 days and probably 20-25 if I was focused on time above all else. Some general points:
Travel between continents takes up all the time. Try to minimise this. You must have travelled between continents a lot. Also, when you travel, time goes to 7am. So if it's 6.50 am when you travel, it's virtually instantaneous. With this in mind, you can cut the time down to 30 days or less quite easily. To get it lower still, you need to manipulate the fights so that you have full mana and rage at the end. This saves waiting around for mana to regenerate between fights. sector24 and MajorS are the experts on this. Have a look at sector24's 'No losses challenge' thread for tips.
