Taking the shield earlier exactly removes the issue of having to wait and do nothing if the foe has extra magic armor. Everyone should have SOME capability of doing a bit of other damage, just to finish off foes. Getting something like Medusa head or Chloroform on your melee characters is also very useful, just like getting shield throw for your mages is. Both on normal difficulty and tactician I've very little need for basic wand/staff attacks except to actually trigger some sort of elemental effect (shocking water or igniting poison for example)