Flexibility and Mobility; How do you raid/teleport without air or strong astral?

[Immaculate]

So, i am currently playing three MP games. Two of the nations have stong air magic and i am looking forward to using cloud trapeze to get my thugs and thunderstrike spammers deep into enemy territory at the beginning of a war, but...

in my third game i am playing sauromatia and while i feel that their front-end assault should be pretty effective, i worry about their quick access to raiding thugs.

Sending (multiple) large armies to fight the enemy, at a strategic level, seems like a bad idea. It gives my opponent a chance to build multiple defensive lines and lets them raid me as i press my armies into his borderlands.

So, i guess this is a pretty generic question, but how do you raid without air or strong astral? How can i get some mobility on an army that has no flying troops?

Any suggestions are very welcome.