i read some stuff about running combat before the last time i dm’ed and it helped SO MUCH so here are some of the things that helped
-naming all of the bad guys
-putting notes of who attacked who
-narrating the transitions from player to player— so like rather than just saying ‘okay bill its your turn’ saying ‘bill, you watch as allie is attacked by the demonic reindeer near the window, but the evil snowman is approaching fionn in the corner. what do you do?’
all of them really helped the pacing of the combat and it all felt very fast paced and like there was actual tension!! it also helped that said evil snowman actually killed two players (i usually scale baddies too weak) but yeah all of those kept me organized which made me feel a lot less frantic during the combat!