How do you defend against an Abysian devil rush?

[Saber Cherry]

ioticus said:
How do you protect your mages from the Devils? I find the Devils usually fly back and kill them before they get off a few spells. Do you tie up a bunch of troops on guard commander orders, or what?

Yes. If I know the enemy uses fliers, I always surround my precious mages with infantry... unless I'm forgetful. "Guard Commander" or "Hold and Attack" are both fine.

I fought his main force at one of my watch towers and I can confirm he had 10 Devils and 50 Lava Warriors at turn 20. I did destroy most of his force (his Vampire Queen and 4 Lavas survived), but at great cost to my self. I lost all 9 Mammoths and 67 (of 74) wingless and Raptors, and 2 Seraphs. The only thing that really saved me is the Mammoths attacking his rear which killed 3 of his commanders and my Pretender, a strong Prince of Death, casting death spells (though he did get a "weakened" affliction in this battle.) As expected, my Raptors committed suicide by attacking his Lavas directly. They simply evaporated. I must learn to use them correctly. I don't think I can hold out. I'm on a small map and I'm sure he's cranking out at least 1 Devil per turn and who knows how many Lavas.

By the way, my Pretender kept casting Fear at the Berserk Lavas (morale 99). Does that do any good or is it a case of poor casting AI?

Fear is useless on berserked units, and nearly worthless on blessed units. The reason to group Wingless and Mammoths together is just to give the group a high morale, so the mammoths don't rout and trample your own units... but 5.5 wingless per lava warrior should be somewhat effective, at a 1:1 cost ratio. I'm glad the mammoths worked, at least!

You may want to group raptors in several small clusters, hoping that ONE of them correctly attacks rearmost.

If you can get evocation 5, Shadow Blast (2 death, 1 gem) is great. Abysians have high MR, but with a penetration aid and high death magic level, a Prince of Death might still be able to take out many of them with a single shot. And Thunder Strike - especially on Harab Elder with Boots of the Messenger, Winged Helmet, Summmon Stormpower during a storm, and Aim - is devastating.

Be sure to have Seraphs cast Quickness if they are just tossing lightning.