Some questions from a newbie

[Willburn]

Hey I was wondering where in the manual (ive skimmed it sometimes) they describe exactly what the area of effect for a spell is. For example False fetters has AoE of 2+ in the manual (p.227) but what does that mean. Will it effect units on 2 squares chosen by the precicion roll or will it affect 2 squares in every direction from where the spell "lands". If you understand the difference?

The second question is a bit more simple - what are good uses for range 1 combat spells? Im trying hard to figure out when it would be possible to guess with a mage how many attacks i need to do to get into melee and then script a combat spell. Any ideas / tips on this ?

Oh and finaly will you be able to both strike in combat and before it use magic? I assume yes because i got a feel that you can do anythign ant it will just deduct the ap for a full attack at the end of the turn when you do the attack, making you have less action points for the next turn. That would make combat mages a bit more viable, only problem I guess is they would be easy to hit due to casting a lot in armor (most likly)