[Chris Byler]

Originally posted by PvK:
My counter-suggestion on the simultaneous issue, would be to have spellcasters and missile attackers alternate from side to side as they currently do, but have units who are moving or doing melee attacks, have their sequence mixed up between sides. This would keep the efficiency and clarity for missile and magic events, and keep the nice "barrage" missile attacks. Melee would look a bit more chaotic and it might be harder to see who hacked whom when, but it would help the "balance" issues of entire armies moving and attacking all at once while the enemy front units can't do much.

PvK

There's a problem with that suggestion: the same unit can move and fire in the same turn (happens all the time when firing at fleeing enemies, in fact).

I don't really like the advantage given to the army that strikes first, either, but I think it's a symptom of a deeper problem: melee combat is too deadly too fast. That is why missile troops are less effective, battlefield magic is weak, armor is too powerful: melees are over in 2 or 3 rounds, before missiles or magic can do much damage and before fatigue can accumulate. Because melees are over in 2 or 3 rounds, the first strike is much more important.