Is there a way to pick which soldier to play instead of using the one the computer impose on you. For example I'd rather begin a turn with my missile people instead of my melee people.

I'm not sure that you can - or at least I've not found a way to do it. I'd much rather start with my archers too :)

I'm not sure what the hourglass button does. Delay initiative by one maybe? I'm not sure. I would think no one would ever just end their turn if they had the option of defending... I have to test this sometime.

The hourglass button pauses the character's move. It's quite useful, because you can take one or two steps, wait what your opponents do and react to their actions

I tested it, and yeah. It moves you to the *end* of the initiative order, which isn't quite as good as being able to wait one at a time, but it can make you go after your archers at least. Not really ideal, though.

Not completly correct. It put's you at the end of the initiative order only when you are originally the first in the order. Generally it reverses it, which means when your original order was for example knight, archer, peasant, healer, it will be healer, peasant, archer, knight when you pause each of them.

It's also important to realize that you can split the turn of each character. Which means you can take one or two steps, pause, wait for your enemies to get close and attack at the end of the turn.

Thanks! I somehow didn't figure that out; it'll make combat a bit easier now.