[PvK]

For the actual question (instead of supercombattant value discussions), to get a commander to actually fight in melee more often than not, he needs to have an Attack order, as the default for a melee commander is Stay Behind Troops.

To keep him from fighting alone or getting stuck, you need to look at his Action Point rating to see how fast he'll advance in combat, and compare that to your other troops, and place him ahead or behind or to the side as appropriate, which may take some trial and error.

You can also assign troops to him on guard commander. As long as they aren't slower than he is, and start out near him, they'll follow him around and fight at his side.

You usually want to have at least one commander on Stay Behind Troops or some other safer order, though, because once the Last leader dies, the men tend to flee.

PvK