I think it was simply because the name of the spell inclines that it is intended to buff units in close combat that I thought that, like the 8th version, it was intended purely for close combat. As you say, though, unlike the 8th Edition version it doesn't explicitly state that it is intended for close combat. Allowing it to boost units' shooting as well certainly already makes it more useful and gives it more viable targets.
And again, this is certainly a fair point. It would have been clearer if it had been written as 'All friendly units with the Nehekharan Undead special rule within the caster's command range may re-roll to Hit rolls of 1' or something along that effect, but certainly one could interpret the wording of the spell as-is to mean all units within the caster's command range, and again that would boost its usefulness by a long way.