Are the Aztecs more armoured than the Apache?

[ataribaby]

I just started another Apache game yesterday (I still can't stick to one campaign long enough to reach the end! I must have A.D.D.).

Anyway, here's my usual strategy that works quite well:

Key:
BBBB = Braves
DDDD = Dog Soldiers (or other archers)
MM = Medicine Men
GG = General's unit
EEEE = Enemy unit

Have your frontline of Braves on fire-at-will and guard mode. Put your archers on fire-at-will and take off skirmish mode. Get your Medicine Men tucked in at regular intervals behind your braves; remember to keep them chanting to boost the morale of nearby troops and decrease the morale of attackers.

Your general can go where you like, but if you start off at the back, out of the way he can enter the battle to reinforce weak points.

Use a small column of Apachean Scouts on one side as your cavalry/flanking force.

SSSS
SSSS        BBBB BBBB BBBB BBBB BBBB BBBB
SSSS            MM        MM        MM
SSSS        DDDD DDDD DDDD DDDD DDDD DDDD
                          GG

Send your scout flankers out as soon as the battle starts. By the time the enemy close in, they will be taking archer fire and javelin fire. I suggest concentrating missiles to particularly powerful units. Your AP javelins are great for thinning out Eagles, Jaguars and Cuahchiqueh units.

SSSS                     EE
SSSS        EEEE EEEE EEEE EEEE EEEE EEEE
SSSS        EEEE EEEE EEEE EEEE EEEE EEEE
SSSS
            BBBB BBBB BBBB BBBB BBBB BBBB
                MM        MM        MM
            DDDD DDDD DDDD DDDD DDDD DDDD
                          GG

By the time your Braves are engaged in melee, your scouts should be in a line behind theirs. Charge them into their general's unit and any tough units that are causing the most damage to your Braves. Regular enemy troops and missile troops should rout pretty quickly. Hammer and anvil the remaining elite troops until they rout.

                SSSS SSSS SSSS SSSS
                         EE
            EEEE EEEE EEEE EEEE EEEE EEEE
            EEEE EEEE EEEE EEEE EEEE EEEE
            BBBB BBBB BBBB BBBB BBBB BBBB
                MM        MM        MM
            DDDD DDDD DDDD DDDD DDDD DDDD
                          GG

Your general and Medicine Men can plug any gaps in the frontline as Braves won't hold out forever. As a last resort send in your archers, but they really should be left to shoot for as long as possible - they do much more damage with arrows. If you have Koitsenkos and the means to retrain them, then by all means send them into the scrap as they're probably better in melee as Braves and Scouts. But by the time you have Koitsenkos, you usually also have cavalry so you can use different tactics anyway.