Using single model wide close order units to screen something sounds ridiculous- that is a column of march… they would just die if charged and would not stop missile troops from shooting the heck out of a unit to their rear. There are pretty solid tactical reasons why no historical generals ever used that sort of formation for combat (at least in any written account that had survived for analysis). That kind of gamey tactics is why I bailed on GW games a long time ago.
To be fair, calling a game that requires less than 200 miniatures a side on average a "massed battle game" is slightly ridiculous- it's all abstraction afterall! But I get your point, I do wish there was a more thematic way to lay them out for this tactic, since having them in column marching off to one side looks a little odd- usually I rule of cool this kind of thing
