Flying Archers Gone Wild(ly Wrong)

[Jorus]

I'm playing Caelum and flying archers are suppposed to be one of my (few) strong points. However, if I can't rely on them in battle then I have big problems.

I took an enemy's province, but suffered a bit more than expected. Out of my 80 archers, half were killed and the other half routed to the four winds.

Puzzle: My archers were given the "Fire at Closest Enemy" command but all of the sudden flew and attacked the rearmost/archers. Of course, the archers are crap in melee and got slaughtered - but why would they leave their position??? The enemy cast Rage a few times, but this happened to all my archers.

I have been told that it may be because the closest target was out of range or that my lead archer was injured/killed. Or do the gurus have another explanation?

Thanks, Jorus