and so by controlling and trying our best to micro multiple stacks the battle will be that much more intense and challenging
I simply could not imagine trying to control multiple stacks of horse archers Especially at the start of a campaign when you have only the light, unarmored version. To get trapped against a terrain feature or the edge of the map is insta-death for these units, so a player has to watch their every move carefully. Now if the "skirmish mode" worked like it should.........

Without the strategy map, this game wouldnt be a Total War game.
Spot on with this comment

and so by controlling and trying our best to micro multiple stacks the battle will be that much more intense and challenging,
and the purpose of this would be to make battle last longer, perhaps around 1 hour or maybe less if there are not as many units in the battle.
I take it that you've never played Shogun I.....never, since the inception of the TW series have I had epic battles that literally had me pausing the game to rest (had some battles last nearly two hours) as I did with the original