Why would you want to punish player, if he has numerical advantage over you? Sure you can introduce reverse zeal and why not, but isnt it easier to find a problem why its effective?
I think that it's just a better idea from a common sense perspective. Why did armies give up on standing in big lines and firing at each other? The introduction of rifles that can actually hit targets further than you can throw them. If you stand all your troops in a line, then even the enemy's miss can turn into a hit.
It's also why modern militaries space out their troops during marches where it's possible they will be attacked. The goal is to be spaced far enough so that a grenade's kill zone would only hit one soldier (obv it would injure more than one person b/c of shrapnel, but you get my point.)
You space out units because it makes them harder to hit. Therefore, blobs should be easier to hit. Very simple and common sense solution. If you're firing a machine gun at a literal human wall 30 meters away from you, it will take a miracle for you to miss any shot you take.
Again, my ideal solution is that missed shots have a large chance of being fired again at closely adjacent or overlapping squads, but who knows how resource intensive that could be. I'm not a programmer.