Middle earth ?

[Rurik]

I'd quibble over battles. The Siege of Minas Tirith involves a variety of curses and spells that sap the morale of the defenders, shroud the movements of the enemy in Darkness, and breaks the Gate. Still, it is a fact that when the main suspect for these spells ("sorcerer, Ringwraith, Lord of the Nazgul" as he is described) confronts Gandalf he draws a sword (with fire running along the blade admittedly) and when he confronts Eowyn he uses a mace. His magic seems to be of a drawn out ritual type, not point and shoot.

I consider the Witch King up there with Gandalf and Saruman. Nazgul are not common - there are only 9, and the one in particular you mention is the head honcho. I did use magic for my RQ ME game, and based it on sorcery for exactly the reason that you could create very powerful spells but took a while to cast them.