I probably should have mentioned that I never play Assassinate as the ONLY objective, usually combine it with Annihilate and maybe some others.
You really NEED your commander early in the game IMO. If you leave him behind, the enemy shows up with his commander + 1 maybe 2 squads of ranged. You have no chance if his commander engages your troops in melee.
True enough.. I had complains back since DoW was released that the AI should not attach Commanders to squads using Assassinate. Makes them exposed in combat where they should be hidden. No sense in putting a game-losing character on the battlefront where it only takes his/her death to win. Then again, yea it also makes sense to have them "in play" as they could be crucial against another Commander. Still.. if the AI sends out one squad with a Commander attached then its likely game over. Still will need more tweaking.