Advantages of Mages over other races.

In my opinion, combat centaurs are anti-taburetkas. Gargoyles deal, to put it mildly, little damage, and combat centaurs, unlike nomadic centaurs, deal full damage in melee and take down taburetkas much faster. Mini-artifacts are certainly a useful thing, but they become truly relevant after the city is fully developed, when resources are no longer needed, and the hero's skills are high. In the earlier stages, it is problematic to equip even the main troops with good mini-artifacts, unless it's according to the "minimum" plan. Although, of course, in case of an acute shortage of resources, an artifact can be sold.