So my understanding is that some of you are using mages as protection. How does that work? Are there counter-spells that you've researched?
There are several ways those might be used.
There are domes (Frost dome, 30% protection, costs 10 to start (?) and 1 per turn to keep up, freeze attacks anyone casting a global @ them), Forest Dome, Fire Dome, Astral Dome, etc. - they just stop spells that attack the area.
Mind Hunt is a spell that works vs non-astral-mages (midly effective only with boosters) - HOWEVER - if there is a astral mage in the area, he can intercept the spell and murder the casting astral mage.
(Really evil players empower a scout with Astral 1, to make a trap, since the scout can't be seen and a caster may overcommit several casters to his target)
Some rituals also sort of protect your guy, like Twiceborn (respawns you as undead if you die in domain), Ritual of returning (beams you back to the capital if you take damage) and some others.
Overall, there are not a lot of spells that kill commanders and those that there are can usually be countered.
Besides Mind Hunt, there is also:
Wind ride (air) - port a commander to you - heavy commanders can't be ported. 10 air
Manifestation (death)
spell id: 734
range: 4 provinces
number of effects: 1
gems required: 4D
Manifestation: Ashen Angel
With this spell, an Ashen Angel is summoned with the promise of an opportunity to kill a commander in this realm and to bring his soul back to the Lord of the Netherworld. The Ashen Angel will appear in a province of the mage's choice. There is a 50 percent chance that a commander is deemed suitable for the Ashen Angel. If no suitable commander is found, the Angel will return to the mage and kill him instead. A commander who is horror marked runs a greater risk of being chosen by the Angel.
Earth Attack (earth, duh)
Earth Attack
Ritual
E5
spell id: 732
range: 4 provinces
number of effects: 1
gems required: 5E
Remote Summon: Earth Elemental
Unknown Attribute: 1
(May Use Underwater, Can be cast to Underwater province)
A huge Earth Elemental will appear in a province of the caster's choice. Here, it will travel under the ground and search for enemy commanders. When it finds one, it will rise out of the ground and strike it down. The Earth Elemental disappears when it has completed this task or if it can't find an enemy commander. The elemental can only find targets that are grounded, thus floating beings will never be attacked by the elemental.
Winged Monkeys (nature)
Winged Monkeys
Ritual
N3S2
spell id: 697
range: 5 provinces
number of effects: 1
gems required: 10N
Winged Monkeys: 0 ?
Unknown Attribute: 1
Unknown Attribute: 1
The caster summons a troop of winged monkeys and sends them away to fetch a commander from a distant land. The monkeys will try to grab and fly away with the helpless commander, but will attack if the target is too heavy. The monkeys are afraid of mages and will never try to snatch a mage from the ground. The monkeys leave after they have accomplished their mission.
You never got mind hunted this game, so you didn't see it yet, but it was used by me (as proxy basically) to kill a Queen of Storms a few turns ago, since she was unprotected and someone saw the tactical oppertunity - just like Ti'chi burned up all his astral mages in one deadly-communion, which left his army open. I lacked boosters back then, so I basically did jack all...