Bladewind/Gift of Heaven/Falling Frost questions

[Corwin]

Graeme Dice said:
Bladewind does not mimic 50 archers, it has far less precision, and can typically only be cast twice per battle for an E2 mage. A single casting has roughly as much effect as the complete ammunition stores of 4 longbow archers.

Yes, however when you are faced with charging hordes of low/med protection units, bladewinds are much more useful than 4 archers, since the total damage over 15-20 turns does not matter - what matters is to kill as many attacking enemy troops as possible in the first few turns, before they overrun your amry.