Upon my research on this, here are my results:
1. From Steam Forums:http://steamcommunity.com/app/48700/discussions/0/37470848262512528/
Originally posted by Hurk:
As Ishida said.
Common strings you might type:
at the start of battle is f1 > f2 (follow me, since everyone is selected by default at start of battle you tell everyone to follow you). I just found that spamming this command when you have a lot of cavalry helps to avoid the bug where they dismount when they cannot move.
2 > F2 > F2 (archers fall back 10 paces)
1 > F2 > F1 (infantry advance 10 paces)
2 > F2 > F3 (arches spread out)
1 > F2 > F4 (infantry stand closer - prob only use if they have shields or about to take a cavalry charge)
3 > F1 > F2 (cavalry follow me. Often when I see the enemy charge toward me on minimap at start of battle I will have my Cavalry wait until their Cav is near my infantry line, tell Cav to charge( 3 > F1 > F3) then when their first cav wave is killed off I call back my Cavalry (3 > F1 > F2) until their infantry and archers are near mine then I tell them to charge again. That way the enemies forces are separated and any reinforcements they send in will not overwhelm mine thus minimizing my casualties)
2 > F3 > F1 and 2 > F3 > F1 (archers and cav archers to stop firing. Why waste ammo on low percentage shots when the enemy is far away. Just remember to tell them to F3 > F2 again when the enemy is nearer)
2. I found nothing else really saying that you could do that.
You either got lucky when that happened or you just imagined it, I do not know to be honest. It could be how you put them in formation that could influence that outcome.