It's an interesting viewpoint and a novel way to look at the situation,
but I'd slightly disagree.
David Cake's very valid point about narrative need aside, I'd suggest
that the BATTLE is a contest between opposing commanders. The
formation of an army, its training, etc are all between the commander
and his/her troops.
The only time the commander's 'will' and the troops behavior would be
opposed are 1) impetuous troops like Orlanthi are likely to get out of
control when they sense victory; or 2) troops are routing.
Otherwise, an army's (if it deserves to be called such) components
should generally do what the commander wants. Anything else is a mob.
You could even build a battle into the following stages:
Army Formation: Commander's admin or leadership skills against the
individualities of the various units - varying levels of success would
determine how "well" each unit would contribute to the battle.
Strategic Maneuver: Commander's intelligence vs. the opposing
commander's, modified by terrain and circumstance to determine who gets
the 'better ground' ("In the morning, we knew it would be a hard
battle; General Luciex had outmarched us and his troops held the high
ground above us...")
Then the battle itself could be fought (depending on how wargamey you
want to be) even as commander vs. commander, with the various
formations being treated as allies.
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