[PvK]

My Ulm commanders include some who stand back and command (and hold army-useful items like supply generators or morale improvers, and/or magic ranged weapons), and others who wade in and hack, and often get up to being very powerful fighters, equipped with magic items etc.

The "wade in" type always have a bunch of bodyguards so they don't get isolated and overwhelmed in battle. The bodyguards should mostly have at least as much battle speed (action points) as the commanders, so the commanders don't out-run them. That's can be a problem with overly-fast commanders (e.g. unicorn-riders like Hildegard and Barthulf).

I didn't see mentioned one of the most important points when arranging an Ulm battle force: include some cannon fodder! Put them in their own squads, so when they die, the main Ulm HI doesn't rout too. Ideally, have at least one group of cannon fodder arrive before the HI, and one group of cannon fodder arrive after the HI - this will keep your HI alive much longer, and multiply their effectiveness, and your chance of winning, even if the fodder hardly does any damage itself. You don't need a lot of fodder (and watch the supply level), but you should have at least some.

Also, when something nasty shows up that your armor doesn't help against, avoid fighting it with your HI - send something else to deal with it (mercs, tribals, pretender, summons, whatever). Examples of such ways to lose all your HI to no purpose include: poison gas, psychic attacks, and soul vortex.

PvK