I've been spending some time developing the battle rules a bit lately (for obvious reasons). In the process I have abandoned* the tactical battle approach and gone for something a little more abstract...1 hour rounds, larger and abstracted battlefield area etc.
It actually produces better results (and is much quicker to use) that the tactical game (which lacked rules for many things) while still retaining a lot of options. THe only things it really misses is the maneuvering of units across a field of squares...which was interesting, but didn't add all that much to the game.
The abstracted rules are also better for narration of battles, which I think is a good thing.
More later...
* Perhaps the tactical rules will be included in an appendix at some later date, if I can find the time.