[AreaOfEffect]

I've seen people suggest decking out a single mage from head to toe with no comment. Yet 2 gems a piece on five guys costing 35 gold each, that's crazy. I like the storm general squads for two essential reasons. First, their is a much smaller chance of epic failure. A failed raid from a high seraph generally means the seraph is dead. You will likely never lose all of your generals in a single fight. Gold is just as much a limited resource as gems. At least water gems are amoung the more accessable kind for Caelum. The second reason is that generals round out your forces much better.

Thunderstrike always wants to deal the most damage and for that reason you can't direct it at any particular thing. In fact, because the spell can strike anywhere on the field, your opponent has more control over your spell then you do. However, you can direct generals to attack specific unit types, or direct them to attack the rear. I'm not saying that one is actually better, I'm just saying that having only one of these tools is less effective then having both. Also, I suggest you just try out the squads. Five generals plus guards have a lot more sustainability against indies and PD then you might think.

I will agree that cold and shock resist units are harder for Caelum to deal with. I don't seriously suggest you place all that gear on just one unit with a random. I was just cataloging what you have at your disposal. I personally find that lizard shamans and Light of the Norther Star is the more efficient way to cast most of those astral spells. You start with a rather good scout, so you should be able to identify a lizard province and gun for it early with mammoths. If your dying for a broader solution, then you've been told what the bare minimum for the strategy is. There are plenty of points available for devising that solution.