[krpeters]

No, the default behavior for a mage with orders "Stay behind troops" is to cast spells. The only reason he didn't cast was because the Harbringer had fire immunity from his sword, so fire spells weren't going to do much.

From what I could tell, he wasn't standing behind the rearmost soldier; he was charging into the melee as best he could.

Your comment about the skeleton reminds me of something hilarious that happened once in another game. Some elephants of mine were retreating, and worked their way behind my lines. My commanders (set to stay behind troops) all ran to greet them and got flattened.