I think it's possible to record battles right now
I remember something about software which is able to record everything that happaned on you screen (the main purpose was to make presentations) and to dump it to AVI, EXE or SWF. Unfortunately, I don't remember titles or company names. Search in the net for this. I pretty sure you'll find what you need.
[Edit: ok, found it]
CamStudio 2.1 - free.
Small note: this is older Version of this tool - latest Versions belong to Macromedia and called RoboDemo, and they're shareware.