Classification of tactical maneuvers in Heroes of Might and Magic II by Qwerty.

Now let's consider a different scenario. The same heroes, the same troops, but this time our hero (a sorceress) attacks a Knight. Here, the method we used in the previous example doesn't work. The fact is that the attacking side has its troops slightly advanced forward, while the defending side has them slightly positioned back. (If you don't have a grid on the battlefield during combat, enable it immediately. To do this, attack someone, click on the computer icon in the lower left corner of the screen (below the AUTO button), and click on the grid (the bottom-left icon) so that it shows that it is enabled. You no longer need to disable the grid.) Now we see that we don't have a cell where we could block the archer and at the same time be out of reach for the peasants. We also remember that unblocked archers will quickly leave us without an army, and engaging in direct combat with a unit of 68 peasants is still somewhat premature. Therefore, you can try the following:
formation
9 halflings - 1 fairy - 1 fairy - 1 fairy - 15 fairies

Round 1.
Blessing on the halflings.
The fairy flies and attacks the peasants directly, lining up with them. 2 peasants are killed.
The fairy flies and attacks the archers, positioning itself between them and the peasants.
The fairy flies and attacks the archers from below. 2 inflict a total of 3 damage to the archers.
The large group of fairies skips its turn.

Blessed halflings attack the archers and deal 23 damage.
Peasants hit the unit standing in front of them and kill it.
Archers hit the unit standing between them and the peasants and kill it.
Round 2.
Blessing on the fairies.
1 fairy attacks the archers, positioning itself between them and the ranged units, dealing 2 damage (to be honest, I didn't generate the damage; it just happened by chance).
15 blessed fairies attack the archers from below. They deal 29 damage. In total, there are 5 archers left, and the last one has 3 health, for a total of 43 life points.

The blessed squad of halflings attacks the archers and deals 23 damage. There are now 2 archers with full health remaining.
Peasants attack the fairy that is standing between them and the archers and kill it.
Archers attack the fairies, dealing 5 damage, killing 2 fairies. The fairies retaliate and deal 25 damage, killing the archers.

In the future, the fairies fly away, and the halflings shoot at the peasants, and in the fourth round, first the fairies attack, then (if necessary) the halflings finish them off.
So, we lost 5 fairies.

Now let's consider a new tactical technique:
Blocking.
Let's go back to the illustration during the second round of battle. We see that a unit of 1 fairy blocked the path of the peasants to the large group of fairies. Thus, we sacrificed 1 fairy but saved the large group. This technique is often used in the second (and not only!) heroes.

To be continued...