@Terco_Viejo
Watching the HA video made me realize how many arrows my 30 or so HA loosed in order to kill half a dozen looters! You are right, a lot of wastage!
As far as BL battles are concerned, it is true that they are quite quick...very quick indeed!
Total War battle are
Epic, but BL battles are
Exhilerating! I think they worked on the moral in this patch in order to make the battles longer, not sure whether it is working yet, I guess we players are here to test and provide feedback.
Years ago, when I worked with a modding team for Rome 2, I was working on troop morale because we felt at that time that the battles were too quick/short. Increasing morale had helped, but the side effect was
huge casualties at the end of the battle.
Currently, even though the battles are too short, I am enjoying them more than Total War battles (I know, it's crazy I'm saying that because I'm a hard core fan of the Total war franchise). BL battles feel like you are actually there, in the fray, the heat of it.
Of course there are improvements to be done, for instance when I order my 50 men infantry formation to advance hoping they are going to march towards the enemy infantry formation, they act like the dog who sees a squirrel! An enemy single HA rides near them and the whole 50 men deviate from their main target to engage the lone HA.
A few patches ago, I was playing mostly custom battles and was very impressed with the AI, I set up my infantry in a defensive stance, the whole enemy formation marched towards my formation. MC alone on a horse outflanks the enemy, a few men turn to face their shields towards the MC who's shooting arrows, but the whole enemy formation is moving towards the defensive formation. So, I don't know what happened between then and now.