Do people underuse mages?

[K]

So the last few months I've gotten back into Dominions after a year-long break, so I've been looking at the game with new eyes. One thing I've noticed in my recent MP games is that people rarely use mages in battles, even if those battles are important ones like the last push toward someone's home castle.

Several times, it really was a "if you'd had forty less troops but three mages with that army, you'd have won the war" kinds of situations.

I mean, for the gold expended you get more than enough kills to justify the cost. Is it just that people get drawn in by the big research goals?