How do you defend against an Abysian devil rush?

[Saber Cherry]

ioticus said:
I'm playing Caelum, the Raptors theme. I really don't have anything to counter the Devils and Abysian infantry.

I've never played them. I imagine that 2 elders and 2+ seraphs in the middle of a cluster of Wingless or Caelian Archers, with evocation 2 and enchantment 3, would be able to kill 6 devils with arrows and lightning, while holding them off with skeletons... and be done before the Abysian infantry reaches them. Giving each elder a girdle of might and / or a skull staff would be helpful too.

No Caelian units can avoid or survive hits from Fire-blessed lava warriors, so just throw tons of cheap units against them, and try to take out the commanders with "Hold and attack rearmost." This would be especially useful to take out Abysian priests so they can't banish your stream of skeletons... but "attack rearmost" is really a luck-based move, and often they don't really attack rearmost.

Letting loose a few mammoths in the enemy ranks can cause great havoc, too, but they're so expensive that I probably wouldn't buy them unless I could make them ethereal, regenerating, and stoneskinned... or I had no other options. They work well against Abysians, though, as they have low defense and can't avoid trample. Be sure to group them with Wingless.

Return of the Raptors is pretty weak compared to default, but if you spend as much on Wingless and Mammoths as he does on Lava Warriors, you'll probably win a battle between the two.