There's a battle formation known as Skirmish, where your guys spread out into a checkerboard pattern.

Units in Skirmish formation suffer a -1 penalty to Morale, unless they have the Skirmisher trait.

• Your units are less densely-packed, meaning stray projectiles and large-AOE Evocations will be less impactful.
• You can "mesh" Skirmish-formation squads together, to have a giant checkerboard-like square of guys.
• You have to use Skirmish formation if someone in your squad is Undisciplined.