Defeat (sob!)

[gollum]

Once on MP I was winning quite easily, so sent Naptha into centre of line for fun, in one volley they killed my General and chain routed my entire army....

- priceless - nothing better than mp blunders

!it burnsus!

[Fagar]

I am not exactly sure why but for me most of my defeats seem to come at the hands of Boyars.
I deal with massive valour kata's in the hands of Byzzie uber generals. I can pick the Golden Horde to pieces with tactical fighting.
However get me into a situation where there is 3 or more units of Boyars and I am bound to feel some pain.

Most recently I had an army invade Finland, well balanced with a good mix of Fuedal Sargeants, Fuedal Knights and FMAA and a spattering of archers.
I went in with a full stack, 4 star general no vices against 3 star general with four units of Boyars and the rest basically woodsmen and archers and got belted.
Left the field of battle with fewer than 200 men and a good runner trait.
Boyars are definately my nemesis no matter how I try to modify my tactics they towel me up

[Geezer57]

most of my defeats seem to come at the hands of Boyars

On defense, you can often defeat missile-heavy enemy armies by sheltering in wooded areas. It takes forever (until they run out of ammo), but frequently works. Better and easier to have missile parity or superiority for your own side.

On offense, you almost have to have missile superiority for your side, as the "spread out and sweep" approach that many folks take against Horse Archers won't work with Boyars - their melee strengths are too great, and they can break portions of your line.

Good foot missile troops, backed up with anti-cavalry melee units, will outshoot even the heaviest horse archer type units (Steppe Heavies, Boyars, etc.). Just remember to bring enough to finish the job.

Another option is to have fast horse archers in your roster, but that takes lots of finesse to pull off. Your troops are not as well armored as the Boyars, so you need to use units in pairs - with one pulling out of enemy range as the other snipes at the heavies, forcing them to change facing, move, etc.

[Fagar]

Cheers for the advice Geezer;

Most of those ideas I already implement but I suspect as you said a large amount of finesse is needed and I have a tendency to get impatient and want to go in for the quick kill, then get punished for it.
Next time I am in a stoush involving Boyars I will attempt to show some more respect and up the missile % in my own army.