Am I missing something? I just ran through the orc lairs and spent half of my time herding my NPCs who decided to either stop, or walk into a wall! I set it to follow close to leader, but I still sometimes find guys just sitting there. Very frustrating in a fight!
Any advice would be really appreciated!
AI Problems
Not sure about walking into walls, but if your companions stop following you, you probably need to right click on the ground and select the "follow me" broadcast command.
SWC
SWC
Sir Edmund: "Should you obey the lord who asks you to put a village of innocents to the torch? Is that chivalrous? Is it noble?"
Me: "It's a great way to get promoted, I know that much."
Me: "It's a great way to get promoted, I know that much."
I'm not sure if this is the problem you are having, and it doesn't quite sound like it, but I'll share what little I know, as I just started playing again and was annoyed at the AI, and so know some of the features from messing around with them. *cough* That sentence got away from me there. 
Anyway, if you want your people to follow you, make sure they all have Puppet Mode set to Off, as On means they do not utilize any AI at all, and will just stand around. Although if you have all characters selected you can have them all move in Puppet Mode On, which has its advantages, such as your people no longer running THROUGH a trap one of your other characters is disarming to get to the enemies behind the trap. However, in this mode they will not follow unless you tell them to, because you turned of the AI.
Anyway, hope this helped.
Anyway, if you want your people to follow you, make sure they all have Puppet Mode set to Off, as On means they do not utilize any AI at all, and will just stand around. Although if you have all characters selected you can have them all move in Puppet Mode On, which has its advantages, such as your people no longer running THROUGH a trap one of your other characters is disarming to get to the enemies behind the trap. However, in this mode they will not follow unless you tell them to, because you turned of the AI.
Anyway, hope this helped.
"You like my helm? It's +5 Sexterity...It's...It's like Dexterity...but with 'sex'...in the front. Like a prefix...I'm kind of a linguist." - Zaboo, The Guild