Whoah theres a lot of micro management in this game

[Jiggymike]

Honestly a lot of learning in this game comes from experience, going through the wiki, and going through some of the strat threads on here. I remember being totally lost when I first started playing, to the point where I stopped for a couple of years before rediscovering how awesome this game is (mostly thanks to mods...personally I am a huge fan of the CBM mod and some of the ones that add new and powerful units, like Mytheology and Epic Heroes). I basically started a lot of SP games to see how different nations play and to test out some strategies; once I got bored or realized I could have played it better, I started a new game with a different nation. When I get a good one going, I play it out to mess around with late game summons and magic.

In reference to a couple of your questions:

-The "Attack Rearmost" command doesn't guarantee that you will attack the enemy's commander. In fact, I believe the game purposely made it quite difficult to attack commanders, as this would make enemy armies overly easy to route and kind of nullify the whole strategy aspect. Attack Archers usually works to specifically target archers whereas Attack Rearmost will cause you to attack at the flanks of one of the enemy's groups, though not always the one you want.

-I think part of the problem with scripting is the range on spells (I could be totally off base here but this is just what I feel like I've seen, most people on this forum have a far better understanding of the base mechanics behind the game than I do). If your mage is way in the back and you script him to cast a spell with a range of like 25 that can't reach the enemy, he'll just do something else and he won't go back to the spell he was supposed to cast previously. Either position your mage closer or start with self-buff spells or those with high range e.g. Frighten.

These were the two items that stood out from your post that I don't think anyone else answered yet. Some aspects of the game you'll just have to deal with because there isn't much you can do about the micromanagement. Personally I feel that CBM removes a little of the most tedious micromanagement from the game (like worrying about making zillions of gen gems), but overall it's the nature of the beast. Get involved in some newbie multiplayer games; having to wait for your turns will make you more patient and allow you to enjoy single player more, in my opinion (I used to get too obsessed with cranking out turns and miss out on a lot of opportunities). Hope this helps and that you enjoy the game because it can be a ton of fun if you can deal with it's more annoying aspects.