How do you get the close combat spells to work?

[Sly Frog]

Is there a way to cast close combat spells even semi-effectively? There's no point to casting them unless you are next to someone that turn, but how can you know just how many "attacks" to click prior to casting the spell? Are all of these "touch of ______" spells effectively worthless (except maybe for flyers, who automatically end up right next to something after one attack move)? Will the AI sometimes automatically use a spell if you simply set the order to generally attack?