How to use Reserves effectively

[QuantumEleven]

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think you need VI to get the pre-battle screen, don't you?

AFAIK, you do. If you only have the original MTW (in which case, go buy VI, it's well worth it!), you can control which units you start the battle with. At the start of the battle, don't click on "Begin Battle", instead select the unit you want to replace with a reserve and click on the "Reserve" button (second from right, at the top). This way, you can get the starting lineup you want. However, I haven't yet found a way to find out in what order your reserves come on...

[English assassin]

In vanilla MTW It seems to be cav first then inf after, but no rhyme or reason as to which cav or which inf. If you cycle through all your possible replacements as Q11 says, before the battle, you can work out the order that they are lined up in "off screen". Then if you stop cycling at some handy point in the order you can at least make sure that the first few reinforcements to come on are something useful. You can't adjust the order though, only where you start in it