Shoot just because most sovereigns didnt ride into battle doesnt mean we should exclude (and considering how barren of a personality our generals and admirals have we need leaders we can identity a nation with) them. Hell coulda made something simple like you can make your leader a domestic pansy or a Gustavus Adolphus reborn wannabe, i had a helluva lot of fun RPing my generals in M2:TW, i cheated in good and horrible personality traits to see the whole gamut of hilarious pre battle speeches.

Heck even the fmv took a major hit...