Bah. The battle timer is for sissies. Actually, I understand its usefulness all too well, and I don't mock anyone that uses it. It's just that I personally derive little satisfaction from winning that way; I much prefer to win & lose on my own merits (or lack thereof!).

I'd have to say that most of my cheap victories come from when one of my artillery crews gets a "lucky" shot and kills the enemy general. It's for that reason that I almost never purposefully place artillery pieces in my defensive garrisons anymore -- they're just way too accurate at targeting enemy commanders.