help a newbie deal with etherals and poison cloud creatures

[rylen]

I've pretty much won my game against the computer so I'm playing around. I wanted to see what the Tarsque (T) was like so I conjured one up, used Gift of Reasons, gave it a Champions Skull for quick XP and an anti-magic amulet to protect from most spells. Then I sent it off to wander behind the computers lines.

This went well until I entered it in a duel. It went up against an Ermor Spector and prophet(S). T threw bile, S threw Shadow Bolts. Nothing happened to either of them. Then T closed the distance. I saw the ghostly hand a few times, which was extremly effective and quickly killed T. Meanwhile, T didn't land a blow. What can I do to deal with etherals? I know I can have a Fire 9 pretender and make it my prophet, but what else? Remember, I've got two object slots.

Along the same lines, T seems aimed at weakening small things and killing large ones. Are there any good fooder-killing creatures?

Last, whats a good way to deploy poison creatures? I know my "stand alone" tactic would end badly in a real game, but T was slower then the bulk of my troops. I've experimented with other poison troops -- I've tried moving my troops out of the center and letting them come in from the sides. I've tried deploying bog monsters in the rear with orders to Fire. I've tried putting them on the sides with order to attack the rear. In each case, they like to walk into my troops and poison them. I know the long term solution is to learn and script a poison ward spell. Is there a good early game solution? Race to poison ward? Accept troop looses? Don't use poison cloud folks until you get the protection?

Thanks
Rylen

Rylen