#in understanding

I was not aware of this plot point at all (heck I still don't even know what happens with the other Almyra incident) so this is all news to me! Not...entirely sure why Claude is aiming to destroy the Church forces -- was that something he agreed to help Edelgard with as part of the whole alliance thing? since they're working together for fairly understandable reasons (in the same vein as Gloucester's pro-Imperial stance)?

Here's the thing: I agree with you 100%. Regardless of his reasons for going after the Church forces and putting that strategy together, it's impossible to predict every single variable -- as the saying goes, no strategy survives the first ten minutes of combat. I highly doubt that Claude intended for Randolph to die, because his strategies have always prioritized making sure as many people survive as possible: that loss might be tragic, but it wasn't intentional, and therefore it's unfair to say it was callous or ruthless. That would be like saying Robin using Phila and her pegasus knights to try and rescue Emmeryn in Plegia was callous simply because Aversa teleported in the Risen archers that shot them down, even though there's no possible way he could have known that would happen. Claude had no way of knowing that Catherine would be able to mow through Randolph's forces and take him out before the maneuver could be completed: he devised the best strategy he could with the information and forces available to him, but failed. That's just how combat is sometimes.

In all honesty I kind of like that he messed up. It's a great touch of humanity, making mistakes and trying to learn from them and endeavoring to do better. That's the kind of thing I like to see, and growth has always been such a fun part of Claude in Three Houses -- the way he's so guarded at first, but comes to open up as he learns to trust his friends and allies until he admits the truth of his heritage to them.