Gambits

I love the gambit system introduced in FFXII. Finally, I can worry about my goals and not each individual battle. These are the sets of gambits I ended up with at end game:
gambitsfran.jpggambitsashelia.jpggambitspenelo.jpg
In the develper commentary on the bonus disc, they said gambits are like plays in American football; I wish they'd let us keep a play book...

I've enjoyed the gambits quite a bit so far, I set my party leader to target low HP mobs, then target nearest. Then the rest of my characters just target what the party leader targets. It makes my battles pretty much effortless if I throw a few healing gambits in the mix.

Gambits don't make things quite as easy as people make it out to sound like, unless you really know what you're doing. If you set your gambits up wrong you can just get yourself killed, but used effectively, gambits are a great tool.

With the info from the in-game tutorial, you should be able to make a set of gambits that gets you through most meaningless fights, and with a single addtional fact (the fact that the characters won't cast a buff/debuff/rez spell unless it's called for) you're even better off. Gambits are only complicated if you want to do boss fights with them.

Here's a rundown of my gambits:

Ashelia (party leader, tank):
1-5 left over stuff from one of a few occations when Ashe was healing.
6: Foe: flying > Shades of Black
If the enemy flies, Save the Queen couldn't hit it to save the princess, so this gambit takes care of damage. The ultimate action here is Telekinesis, but it appears late in the side quests. 1000 needles is also excellent here. This is all assuming that your heavy hitter isn't learning black magic on the side.
7: Foe: character status=Blind > Sight Unseeing
Honestly, Sight Unseeing never hits against monsters that induce blind, but then again, neither do you when you're blind...
8: Foe: party leader's target > Attack
You might think this one unneccesary, untill your party leader decides to switch targets before she's finished...
9: Foe: targeting ally > Attack
Take care of immediate threats first
10: Foe: any > Attack
Otherwise, hit anything arround
11: Ally: HP<90% > Cure
As an all melee fighter, Ashe has lots of spare MP, so when she can't find anything to hit, she'll spend it topping off the party (but <100% is annoying)

Fran (mage):
1: Ally: any > Arise
If someone's dead, and you have the mana, rez them.
2: Ally: Penelo > Esuna
Normally, it falls to Penelo to cure status effects, but if Penelo has a status effect, she may be unable to do that duty.
3: Self: MP<10% > Charge
If you're out of mana, try to get some more. This is early because otherwise later priorities get messed up by the amount of mana remaining. Early in the game, before you get Self: MP<XXX, you'll want to do this with a simple Self > Charge gambit placed after everything else (attack disabled and a magic spell on leader's target for propper fall-through) during boss fights.
4: Ally: any > Haste
Faster movement has a dramatic effect on your party's effectiveness, so this gambit will cast haste on anyone who doesn't have it. This gambit is sometimes off to conserve mana before a boss fight or if the enemy frequently dispelgas.
5: Ally: any > Protectga
This is a very usefull and very annoying gambit. Early in the game, you'll only have protect available to you and if you setup haste, protect and shell to be cast in this manner, you'll pretty much be casting them non-stop. Once you get Protectga, you can spend 1/3 of the time casting and it's not as bad -- except that the AI characters forget that they can run while casting, leading to this often being cast twice during sparse combat. Be sure to get spellbound, as it helps dramatically with keeping buffs up. Depending on the situation, Fran or Penelo may have this gambit enabled.
6: Ally: HP<40% > Cura
If Penelo can't keep up with the healing, then Fran helps out
7: Ally: Ashe > Decoy
This will keep Decoy up on Ashe so that monsters target her. Decoy wears off frequently, so only enable this when it is truely warrented.
8: Ally: status=Slow
In mana-conservation situations, still use Haste to get rid of slow. In this case, it's probably a lesser priority, also.
9: Foe: status=Reflect > Dispel
Having your mage's AoE damage reflect back on the party sucks, so don't cast any damage spells untill you take down any enemy reflects
10: Foe: party leader's target > Bio
Place your favorite damage spell here. Only attack the party leader's target to focus fire.
11: Foe: party leader's target > Attack
Early on, this is a fall back action when Fran is out of mana. Later on, it's convenient when you need to turn off 10 for whatever reason.
12: Self: MP<20% > Charge
When out of combat, pull mana up to 20% so you don't have to cast charge as soon when you get back into it.

Penelo (healer):
1: Ally: any > Arise
Raise the dead
2: Ally: any > Esuna
Cure the sick
3: Ally HP<50% > Curaga
Heal the deeply wounded
4: Self: MP<10% > Charge
If out of mana, get it back
5: Ally: any > Protectga
Explained under 5 on Fran
6: Foe: flying > Attack
For the longest time, Penelo had a ranged weapon...
7: Ally: HP<70% > Cura
For minor scrapes, keep the whole party topped off
8: Foe: party leader's target > Dispelga
As you get on in the game, an annoying number of enemies will have buffs. Untill then, just Dispel will do.
9: Ally: Ashe > Bravery
I think this helps Ashe's damage
10: Foe: party leader's target > Attack
When everythings going good, feel free to attack
11: Self > Libra
If you're not fighting, keep Libra up
12: Self: MP<20% > Charge
Same as for Fran

I was hesitant about Gambits and still am more or less. I like to start off a battle the way I like and then just let the Gambits take control. I haven't played this game in a looooong time though. Maybe I should play after work.