Round table

Don't forget that in battles against neutrals, you should protect your fragile Archers with tough infantry, provided you are fighting against non-ranged creatures.

If you had 24 Heavy Crossbowmen, 30 Pikemen, and troops from your third hero at the start, surround the Archers. For example, divide one of your melee units into three equal stacks (or form two stacks if you have two-tile creatures in your army), preventing the neutrals from depriving the Archers of their shots.
Remember that when using the "Defense" command, your defense skill increases, making it more difficult for neutrals to reach your tasty Archers.
Units of level 1, depending on the difficulty of the battle, are either grouped together, shielding their melee stacks from neutral attacks, or they draw the fire of the neutrals, or they counterattack the neutrals, or they alternate the above combinations.