I didn't see any difference. .and depending on what main troop you use there has allways been some stage where you can win very easy on manual and in the same time loos on auto ...that thig is very correct with Champions ... if you click auto without entering the battle it self a camp will allways go first and soon after that be killed and your rogues will not be able to change ... you can allways go in to the fight , then move your original unit to top or bottom corner basically like skiping that move and do auto so your next auto move is rogues going forward .. that can help in your favour a lot ... this method only doesn't work on world map after you enter in modern era as then your opponent will change a rouge and next unit will attack it till it is killed ....