This is one area I haven't personally seen a lot of progress in...graphics yet, gameplay no.  Others have commented on making Elemental less mechanical in tactical battles. As others have said, tunneling, squares under trees, tall grass, flying, invisible, knockback from large creatures, etc. should be part of the game.

Giants should throw boulders and probably have knockback

Elementals should burn/ice/wind damage, and have knockback

Wolves should be hard to see through the terrain...let's have some high grass and hard to see-through trees so there are SURPRISES in battle, not the perfect camera view of an NFL game we have already.

Maybe your view in Tactical mode becomes limited to your side of the field/what your LOS is? Seems like it would make the 'oh no' factor more likely...