New player seeks advice about playing a mage and the tactics for no loss

[kcwong]

I bought Armored Princess two weeks ago... I've been a fan of Heroes of Might and Magic series since the first.

I first started a game as a Mage on Normal - but soon hit a solid wall of lethal and invincible enemies everywhere. I figured I must be doing something very wrong.

I restarted as a Paladin on Easy to learn the rules properly... I finished this game without trouble (I actually forgot to visit Nameless - I found all 8 stones, restocked my troops and rushed to The Temple of Love - after beating Baal I decided to leave this mystery island for my next game).

Here are the results (so you have some idea of how I was doing):



Then I read threads on these forums, picking up some tips here and there, and learned about the existence of the Gift Bag.

So I've been trying a Mage again on Normal... spells most commonly used are fireball, fire arrow, poison skull, trap. Troops are royal snake, inquisitor, priest, guardsman, polar bear. After the bears died I picked up some beholder and replaced priest with evil beholder. I saved up runes to get Glory 3 asap, plus Distortion Magic 2, Chaos Magic 2 and Transmute 1. I also took Resistance 1, and equip mostly gears adding Leadership, Defense, Intelligence and Mana (in that order).

But again I hit the invincible stone wall. I was stopped after I found maps for Rusty Anchor - I can clear the first island, clear Scarlet Winds with some losses, and some enemies on Bolo.
I started a Warrior on Normal to compare... it's a whole lot easier! The rage inflow is great even without any skills, and I can imagine how good it will be if I get the better dragon skills and some class skills to support it.

What's your secret to play a Mage with no loss on impossible?

I simply can't imagine how it's done. I read the threads and its commonly suggested to get the driods - however, I found no hints on how to get to the droids at all (since there're lots of roaming guards on Bolo), and with low leadership, even the driods' self repair won't matter since the damage output is too low. And too often I can only get as far as Scarlet Winds - Bolo - Rusty Anchor, as the maps are guarded by stationary and lethal/invincible guards.

Please share your tips on how to play a Mage's early levels...


Edit 1:
For comparison, I started a Warrior on Impossible... I've cleared Debir without trouble, though only made 4 no loss battles - they kept shooting at my thorn hunters even with thorn warriors right in front of them, and they love spreading the damage to different stacks so I couldn't heal/resurrect them all. I made it to Scarlet Winds and I can find weak and very weak stacks there... it seems easier than Mage on Normal!

Edit 2:
I have a few more questions:
1. If a chest is opened by the enemy, do I get the stuff back when I won the battle?
2. Does enemies on Impossible move faster and chase you around longer?
3. What is the point of buying more expensive ships on new islands? Do they really move faster?