@fomalhaut: there is a very easy way to break skirmishers: double charge from 2 directions, especially from the front and the rear - insta rout ( once skirmishers are in melee, and cannot use their "skirmish" mod, one of the charges, normaly the second one, delivers the actual shock effect - boom! ;) ). Charge first with some melee resistent cavalry ( decent armour, shield etc ), bodyguards are perfect, while the second charge needs to be just decent, 24+ ( the higher the better, of course ). Normaly your heavy cavalry is allready a bit tired, so that the lethality, and the absence of the initial charge ( due to the "skirmishing", or running away from it ) do not have the impact they would if a unit is fresh and the charge has been fully completed.

Another thing i´ve just found in "Aradans EDU guide" that bothers me:
Minimum delay between weapon attacks, measured in 1/10 of seconds. It is the minimum time allowed between the beginning of an attacking animation and the beginning of the next one. It only applies to foot melee skeletons.
Now, according to this quote, the delay of cavalry spears units wouldn´t work at all, i assume?