Explain Sea Battle

[Ice_Sickle]

I'm a newbie and I just had a sea battle as Machaka versus Ry'leh and got toasted and I wonder if someone can explain what happened.

I was breaking a siege. His forces his pretender 4W, 4S Void Lord. He had one other mage (Star Child) 4S, and he also had a Illithid Lord. With them were 25 slave troopers and 38 illithids. I was breaking the siege with 105 Ichtyid Warriors (+4 Ichtyid leaders) and a water-breathing priest with a few (7 or 8) units.

He hits my units with a mind burn and ~15 are paralyzed. Watching him cast it looks like his Enslave Minds and Mind burns are effecting 8+ units each where the manual says "one person."

Long story short 91 of my units are killed (7 of which he took over). He loses none, in fact he gained 7.

Thanks for your help!