Actually, the problem is that you don't know how to play Abysia, and keep hitting your thumb with the hammer over and over, apparently hoping that someday it'll work.
No Anathemant Dragons early? Some of us recruit at least 1 Dragon in the first 1-4 turns. It can use flare, which even with poor precision is useful against large Groups of troops, and it can cast Fanaticism after the first couple rounds of battle, to keep the troops from routing. (Not to mention the benefit of making an A.Dragon the prophet, thus giving Smite/Smite/Smite/Smite/Smite as an option, without precision being an issue.)
Then, the pretender can also use flare from turn 1, which is awesome if the pretender has fairly high fire magic and decent precision.
All of which is perfectly safe for your own troops, since they're immune to fire - unlike, say, Marignon, which sometimes roasts it's own troops with Holy Pyre.
And you want Abysia to _start_ with a demon spell, when they're already probably the 2nd best Blood nation in the game, quite capable of winning via large hordes of demons and devils.
Frankly, Abysia has a darn good starting spell compared to some other national themes - TC, which needs lucky random to use its summoning spells, or seafaring Marignon, which gets Holy Pyre and _no one_ recruitable capable of casting it.
Edit: Oh, and you think they're too expensive? Higher HPs than most mages, 100% fire resistant, and 2 of them, the Salamander and Dragon, are sacred (1/2 upkeep) and have
very good priest abilities for dealing with undead, for dealing with morale and routing, and for calling your pretender back from the dead for the 5th time in 30 turns.
Say, Cohen, it's great to have you back. Have you met Boron and Tauren yet?
Re: The Abysyan problems ...
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