battle initiative

[siegefried]

You can't attack a stack, the stack always attacks you. The key to getting the first move is a unit with a high value for initiative. For example, the sprites + Agna's Ruby combo (You can get sprites early as a mage). Horsemen are decent enough in Darion + Freedom Islands (I've only gotten to this point, can't really say for those much further) for getting the first turn, but they don't always start first.