Battle interface and issuing commands | Battles TW: Warhammer Guide
Encounters differ greatly from the action that takes place on the world map. Here everything happens in real time, there's no division to turns, and all the actions are performer at the same time. You should remember about a couple of things to make this process a little easier.
Controlling the flow of the time
During the encounter you will have to control up to 40 units at the same time, which will, most likely, be fighting in several places. Keeping up with all that in real time is quite impossible (and at least extremely difficult), which is why you should control the flow of the time at all times.
You can control the flow of the time with the help of the buttons located in the upper right corner of the battle screen. Those allow you to decrease and increase the speed at which the time flows. Additionally, thanks to them, you can also turn on the active pause. During it all the action on the battlefield will stop, but you will still be able to issue orders to your troops. You should use this option as often as possible to be able to coordinate the actions of your troops to their fullest potential.
Controlling the action on the battlefield
A thing that you must absolutely refrain from doing is to set up your forces at the beginning of the battle, order them to do something and leave everything to the fate. Doing so allows you to lose even the encounters where your forces had a huge advantage over the enemies - and in the best case you will suffer insanely large casualties. You must monitor the battlefield all the time and issue orders to your troops to counter the actions of the enemy.
The first thing to pay attention to is to look at the types of units the enemy is using and where he is sending them. The enemy will try to use his units to counter your own and to use their abilities to their fullest potential. If a wing of your army is not protected by your missile units you can be sure that the enemy will use this opportunity to harass you with his own marksmen. If you set up a few units of spearmen that are effective against cavalry you can be sure that the enemy will send units of elite melee combatants that will make a short work of your spearmen. The same applies when your units are not protected from the cavalry - unprotected missile units are a dream come true for a shock cavalry.
Pay attention to the types of units your enemy sends to battle and where he sends them and counter them. If the enemy sends a group of cavalry units to strike your flank, send a group of spearmen to stop them. If a flank is harassed by a group of enemy marksmen, send your own missile units to get rid of them. This does not mean that you must limit yourself to defense only. If the enemy leaves a group of marksmen or artillery without protection, send your fast cavalry units to get rid of them.
If you notice a unit that causes terror on the battlefield (such as a Giant), focus all of your missile units' attention on that foe. Those units are capable of causing terror in the nearby units, which can cause them to run away in fear and expose your vulnerable units that they were protecting.
If the enemy sends his Lord on the frontlines, focus all of your marksmen, artillery and most powerful melee combatants (such as your own Lord) fire on that unit. If the enemy Lord dies or is wounded the discipline of his troops will take a severe hit - they will be easy to scare off and they won't come back to fight with no Lord present.
Improvise
The course of an encounter can rarely be predicted - the terrain that was randomized for the battle is not good for your units, the enemy will try to hide some of his units and the discipline of your troops will be broken and they will route. The most important thing is to remain calm and try to keep control over the situation.
If the tactic you've chosen for the encounter, such as setting up a wall of melee combatants and using your missile units to eliminate the enemies failed, shift gears and think about another one. Try to surround the enemy units to force them to flee in panic - other units will also take a hit to their discipline when seeing their teammates running away from the battlefield. This can turn around the whole encounter and will allow you to win.