Walkthrough tips, Discussion of Campaigns [Heroes 5]

I can't understand one thing: why, in the fifth mission for the Elves, where you have to fight the main Necropolis boss, Nicholas, they send out groups of 10 archers and even cities that haven't even started being built? Is this some kind of joke? =) Logically, Irolan should have gathered all his forces, especially since he managed to repel the siege of Cyris Talla, but here, he can't even put up a decent fight against the initial army. The fact that the enemy has 1000+ skeleton archers from the start is somewhat understandable, but sending a couple of elf archers and 2 pathetic, underdeveloped villages to fight the main Necromancer...