Thunderstrike - what am I missing?

[krpeters]

So, falling frost *does* work pretty well against the AI. The 5x area of effect means I can trash his chaff pretty effectively. What other low level spells (7 or less, "low", heh!) have a good area of effect? I've played with magma eruptions in the past which has worked well.

Unfortunately, I see a potential problem in use against human opponents. The range is pretty short, so if my opponnent parks his army in the back with orders for "hold and attack", my mages will twiddle their thumbs and gain fatigue for several turns. Is this a common strategy in MP games? How do you deal with a player who turtles his troops out of your range for several turns?