Help with Commanders casting in battles please!

[General_Jah]

I'm new to D3 and have started my first game past the tutorial. I've read the manual and believe I have a beginers grasp on this game....

However... I am getting _very_ frustrated with D3 and am hoping some veterns out there can help me out!

I'm playing Vanheim Early Age.

I've tried battle after battle to tweak the orders given to my commanders that can cast spells but the end result is the same. I feel like the ignore the spells I've told them to cast, then they just sit in the back and do about jack nothing. Especially when I tell them to cast spells that require them to be in close range.

1) How can you get your commanders to actually get in there and cast the spells you want?

I have some fairly high damage death magic spells for single targets but you must get up close. I've tried queuing (attack) (attack) then (hand of death) (hand of death) (hand of death) and my Svartalfs still seem to sit on their but and cast self buffing spells which don't really matter since they never attack anything anyway!

Is the AI just that bad or am I missing something? Why can't I just tell my commanders to cast (hand of death) and they should know they need to get in range first to cast it???

Thanks in advance for your help!