I think it would be awesome to try a Total War game where you start each battle by assembling the position of your troops (as we do now) but also assign orders of how they should move and engage the enemy prior to combat start. Each segment of your army is headed by a commander that has his own personality.
Once the battle is underway and your plan comes into contact with the enemy’s plan, you can adjust your plan on the fly but it relies on your general or his couriers physically delivering orders. So if your right flank needs your personal touch you ride your general over there and yell at the commander. Otherwise, the commanders will make decisions based on their AI personality.
No idea if that would be more fun than what we have now, but it would certainly be very interesting to try in my view.