How come none of my mages are in the Hall of Fame? Seems like they kill 20+ every turn

I wish you could check kills on non HoF commanders.
So, now there's a 430-unit Marignon army adjacent to me. I bet it has loads of sea trolls, and they have too many HP / too much regeneration for Blade Wind to wipe them out when they get hit by about 1 blade every 2 turns. So I'm doing a fighting retreat: Earthpower, Blade Wind, Blade Wind, Retreat for my dwarves and Thunder Strike, Thunder Strike, Retreat for my air-3 mages (reinvigoration keeps them from passing out... I hope!). Hopefully I'll kill a couple hundred flagellants, my mages will retreat unharmed, and the remaining enemy will starve in their newly-conquered 3000-pop province before attacking again.
Here's a question... I have some Astral-2 Air-2 mages. What's best for them to cast, Solar Rays, Starfires, Lightning Bolt, something else? I don't have Orb Lightning, and it's too short-range, anyway. They're going up against a pack of 50 starving and diseased archers and slingers (should average about 2 morale).