To enter land combat, approach a hostile creature. Hostile creatures have orange (more powerful than you), gray (less powerful than you) or yellow (as powerful as you) names displayed above their heads. Blue named characters are other players, and green named characters are friendly characters controlled by the game.
When you enter combat, you’ll be joined by one or more Companions. The Companions that join you are based on their order in the “My Companions” screen. See Companion Management for more information. Any Companions on orders won't join.
Once engaged in combat, your camera moves to a top down view, a battle board will be displayed and you will enter the Planning Phase.