Animations are generally good, although small. Units march and fight in formation, dieing in explosions and while running on fire. Some of the magic effects are also quite nifty. Overall the game looks good, especially fully zoomed out. Zoom in to see the detail and, well, this isn't StarCraft .
Sound effects are good.
Weapons firing all make unique sounds, units sound the retreat and the charge, Orc, Undead and Human units all have distinct death and victory sounds. All in all the sound effects add a lot to the battlefield experience. The cut scenes, while certainly not a technological tour de force, are well done and do help to advance the story. The copious animated dialog between missions is nicely done, although the voices and the animation are not synchronized, something that bothered me a lot. Not sure why, but it just looked wrong.