Q: Effective use of magic resources

[Lazy_Perfectionist]

Sword of Ice, Cat Charm, Raw Hide Shield.

If you want to 80% guarantee a well supported human thug's survival, get defense at twenty or higher, and choose your targets carefully.

While I don't find humanoid thugs a reliable strategy, there is room for lightly equipping a few. They can turn the tide of an equal battle. Simply having some cheap, spare commanders and giving them basic fire swords can be handy (early on). If you've got two equally matched national armies, but side A has three units that will hit all of the time, instead of half the time... And yes, you will get casualties. It's not a great strategy, but if you're playing say, LA Atlantis, you can't always afford to build a temple, laboratory, AND fortress. I sometimes skip on the first two to focus on churning out always scarce infantry.