Combat Total covers initiative, attack, defense, damage, & soak? Or does it just cover attack and defense, or does it cover the first 3, or some other combination of numbers?
Fighting in a (trained) combat group grants bonuses to just Attack and Defense (and only one at a time), though it effectively increases damage and soak in the sense that an attack that exceeds the enemy's Defense by more is going to do more damage, and if your defense increases to closer to your enemy's roll, you'll take less damage.
Also, wow. This thread is four years old. The vile necromantic gods cannot be sated.
I'd definitely say that you should think of a "group" as, for example, a banner of knights. The knight, two squires and two retainers are not a "group," they're five individuals who fight in different styles, and on the battlefield, they wouldn't be operating together. The knight would be part of a group of knights and fight in the lance charge, the men-at-arms would fight with other men-at-arms, and the squires would try to avoid actually fighting so that they can make sure that their boss has another lance when he needs one.
I'm aware of what fighting in a trained group does, but the five-point range restriction is vague on the definition of Combat Total. All else being equal and obviously after training together, can a group fight as a trained unit if the leader has a +1 Initiative while the rest of the group has a +6? What if the Vanguard is wearing chain while the rest wear nothing but blue paint?