Buy good mercenaries. And maybe look out for one who knows his history about the war.
Research the location of the site of most dense grave density within three days travel.
Research poisons. Poison multiple meaningless towns. Blame the enemy for murdering them; take the bodies and resurrect them. ((Is anyone aware of our necromantic ways?))
It’s obvious that if you want to fight a war without dying in the first day of the campaign, you should research a little bit into the Ferleon, the war, and well, the world in general; as you haven’t set a foot outside the college for quite some time and your historical knowledge is kind of rusted. Seeking for answers, you start walking to the great library.
The library is, of course, gigantic and filled to the ceiling with scrolls and books. It will sure take you decades to search for all the required information, was it not for the numerous librarians who have spent their entire lives memorizing the information within. You ask one of them about information relating the Ferleon.
Few things are known about the Ferelon, since they traveled to faraway lands after being defeated by the Aljerenian Empire during the First Era. Historical records point out that they are highly resistant to much magic; especially weak to sunlight, which blinds them burns them horribly; and seem very fond of wearing featureless metal masks. Most interesting is the report of a special weapon of theirs, which had the appearance of a metal pike and had the ability to emit some kind of invisible fire bolt.
Regarding the other civilized races of the world. The dwarves are currently mass migrating to the great mountain homes far to the south, most of the elven city-sates seem to be doing their usual warring and infighting, and the remaining forces of the Aljerenian empire lay scattered due to the sudden death of the Emperor Geralis Mirellanas. It seems that your only remaining allies right now are: the small army of Delener, the knights from the Order of The White Sun, and of courses all the mages you convince to accompany you.
You also make some researching about good mercenary guilds near the college and nearby necropolea, and find that sell swords from “The Felloship of Bucklers” seem to be more than the average type of grunt that is aviable for hire; and that there are some prominent ruins near the Twin Peaks. You also take notes on the locations of nearby hamlets, shall you decide to protect them from “accidental” poison attacks.
Dwarf. We use the Roman approach of sending the new soldiers in first, using flaming and earthen barriers to interrupt battles, then giving the survivors enchanted gear to keep the valuable forces alive...
Somehow I doubt the Romans used flaming barriers or enchanted gear.
But we're human? Aw.
Basically, contact everyone and see who's willing to help.
Also, how long do spells like Levitate last?
After much researching, you glance at the window and notice that the court’s sundial indicates night has fallen. Pleased from the results of your investigation, you return to you recently acquired archmage chambers and start writing drafts of the letters you should be sending in the next following days, they are currently directed to the elven city-state of Iliea and the dwarven mountain hall of Orrosk, you need to search for more "oficial" allies.
It appears to be pretty late.
Health: 20/20
Mana: 40/40
Skills:Takented persuader, talented judge of interest, adept leader, talented conversationalist, Great necromancer, accomplished summoner
Inventory: College master robes
Summoning Circle: empty
Status: Tired
General
Heal self (1 Mp) restores 2 hp from your life counter.
Detect aura (2 Mp) detects the aura of nearby leaving things.
Levitate (5 Mp) you know, real wizards don’t walk.
Fireball (1 Mp) cast a simple fireball, deals 1d4 damage.
Magical armor (5 Mp) Raises your armor level by 1
NECROMANCY
Raise undead (Mp depends on size 1-5) raises one corpse back from the grave.
Mass raise undead (10 Mp +1 for every 2 corpses) raises 10 humanoid corpses to fight for you.
Wisdom of the dead (MP 10) allows you to communicate with deceased friends in order to ask for advice
Steal life (Mp depending on the amount of life to steal) pretty obvious, isnt it?
Destroy Soul (Mp 20) destroys the soul of a poor living thing.
Raise army (RITUAL) rises all the corpses in a radius of 2 miles and makes the bend to your will.
Destroy undead (Depends) destroys weaker undead for free, stronger undead may be more difficult to destroy.
Summoning
Summon object (Mp depends on size) summon an object from your summoning circle.
Teleport (Mp 15) teleports you to a previously defined place
(more spells coming as I get ideas for them)
Out of character: (levitate lasts enough time for you to actually get bored of floating all over the place; unluckily you only levitate at about two feet from the ground.)