Here's the saved game... the tide has turned after a 200 turn war against pesty Altar.

http://www.mediafire.com/?bgnn7wnmazhkwgn

So this time it was all about the magic.  So much so that I was constantly out of mana until the very end.  Lots of fire darts, fireballs, pillar of fires, and soul burn.  I also used tremor a lot and raise land to cutoff a choke point.  Altar kept sneaking around the mountain! Argh!  I had a tough time getting any of my other heroes to survive.  They have so many injuries that finally I just had to leave them at home because they're useless.

We have to do something about that emerald cap.  It makes the sovereigns look so dorky.  Make it cool!

AI good stuff

Altar was relentless.

I was counterspelled numerous times.

AI bad stuff

AI not using strategic spells like tremor, pillar of fire, lower land.

Tactically, I haven't had fireball used against me yet either.

Tarth declared war on me very early, but I never saw her the whole game.  After about 100 turns, I asked her to surrender to me and she did.  What the heck?

I think the AI is surrendering just a little bit too soon.