[thejeff]

Battle field summons appear near the caster and will attack as they please. Generally they just pummel the nearest enemy. Just like any unscripted troops.

Cave drakes are ritual summons. You cast the spell out of battle. They'll appear in the province the next month and you can assign them to a commander and give them orders like any other troops.

I've got no help for the graphics. As far as I know we're stuck with what we've got. People add sprites for mod nations, but I don't know of any attempts to redo the existing sprites.