On my first time through the game. I started at impossible difficulty with a paladin.
I'm currently starting the elvish isles
I've been using this setup:
archmage, inquisitors, shamans, gryphons, evil beholders (now dwarvish cannons since the beholder blind seems to be good only vs level 1s)
General strategy has been to run the gryphons forward, wait, shield them with archmage, bless them, and let them retaliate against the enemy while casting resurrection a few times.
From what I'm reading, I guess I should of gone mage with sacrifice
Never even knew sacrifice was that useful haha.