Mish-gan
And which skills should Axel take?

Axel the Anti-Gnome (level 25):
Master Counter-Strike, Supervision, Experienced Commander.
1. Masterful Offense: Tactics, Battle Frenzy, Impact.
2. Persistent Luck: Soldier's Luck.
3. Masterful Leadership: Rally Troops, Inspiration, Empathy.
4. Masterful Defense.
5. Dark or Light Magic - it doesn't matter, magic is just a bonus for Axel in this case.
Artifacts: preferably a ring for initiative, and artifacts for attack.

Key perks in the build are highlighted in bold!

The tactic is simple: a critical mass of at least 100 paladins - first, we eliminate the dragons (the paladins' attack destroys any stack), preferably taking out someone else as well. If anyone dares to attack them, they will also be completely wiped out! If Battle Frenzy triggers after the first attack, the game is practically won!
As an alternative, you can split the paladins into two stacks!
Force Majeure, may happen if the Gnome is properly built (but few know about such a build), then you'll have to work a bit harder, but the odds are still 70 to 30 in Axel's favor!