Quote Originally Posted by gardibolt View Post
Nice work, Incubus Dragon. On the YouTube video, am I understanding correctly the pikemen were initially on Guard, and then you shut it off after the initial charge? Pretty effective how they instantly routed the initial cavalry charge.
Aye, that's right mate... in the YouTube clip, the pikemen are already bracing in "guard mode". I then removed their "guard mode" after impact at around 35/36 seconds into the clip.

After melee combat was underway, I sent in my supporting troops... I was using Highland Nobles in the YouTube clip, but that was probably a bit of overkill, as I can regularly use any unit in the exact same role - right down to and including peasants, albeit usually also with the standard "sword-and-shield" tactic of flanking cavalry hitting the engaged enemy unit in its flank and/or rear.

The other thing I would mention is that if you're using unarmoured pike units (e.g. Highland Pikemen), then it's vital to prioritise eliminating enemy archers as early in the battle as possible, or your tight formation of slow-moving pikemen can easily be significantly depleted due to casualties before clashing with the enemy... which would result in a shaken morale that would make them more inclined to rout at the commencement of melee combat. It's mostly a question of timing - Border Horse are usually fast enough to get in there and hit-and-run the enemy archers with minimal casualties so long as you don't let them get bogged-down in melee combat... but even if it is worst case scenario, I reckon it's worth sacrificing a unit of Border Horse to take out the enemy's archers in order to keep your pike units at full stength.