Quote Originally Posted by EatYerGreens
That said, I thouroughly recommend the VI expansion as you get a 'pre-battle' screen, with a facility for making an interim gamesave.

Also, not only can you control the sequence in which reinforcements will appear, but also adjust your starting 16 to suit the situation.

Provided agents or watch towers are in place, you also get to see exactly what units and reinforcements the enemy is bringing, so the ability to set good unit matchups is vital.
I think this was one of the greatest improvements (in addition to the Viking campaign). It was great to have the ability to determine the composition of the starting army and then the order of reinforcements. It was also great to be able to save. Save the game then run the battle and decide if it was the best course of action. What would be a nice additional enhancement is during the battles on the reinforcements screen if there was a set of buttons to call specifically for infantry, archers, or cavalry, so that if you're in need of one particular troop category you can bring them on instead of whatever is next in line.

It's also nice to see what kind of units the enemy is bringing to determine whether or not you should fight the battle. In the Viking campaign I decided to have my 500 vikings fight a Mercian force of 2500, primarily because I had an 8 star general and minimum Valour of 5, while they had a whole lot of peasants and a Valour ranging between 0 and 1 ;)

The pre-battle screen definately makes it easier to ensure you're using the right units in a battle to make a large general force and go on a march around the world.