As the HRE, I invaded some Papal held land with an army of several hundred peasants (don't ask), one archer, a Swiss halbdier, a halbdier, some feudal and chiv. men of war, and a civ. sergeant - plus five squadrons of royal knights. The Papal forces had mainly abelesters (sp) and archers but two halbdiers, a feudal sergeant, militia sergeants, and out numbered me two to one. Nothing new here but this was a single bridge battle. After wasting a peasant unit and about 10 archers, I decided this was insane so ordered my troops to withdraw - all but the cavalry who stood on a ridge as a rear guard. Sure enough, the Papal general sent his anti-horse troops after me. I had my commander walk off away from them and sent two other squadrons to the east and west respectively. One went after each of the dual squadrons while the rest ran towards my commander. Their missile troops were still trying to cross the bridge. I left them chase one unit while the other got behind them and charged from both sides. Rout and death. This repeated several times until all were routed. Then I charged the missile troops who promptly routed en masse. OK, now I'm on the other side of the bridge with my rear guard and several exhausted squadrons. The reserves came in - mostly spearmen and missile troops. They chased us all over the place (my cav just walked) while we picked off the odd isolated units. The exhaustion was now set in and my tactic of walking away and waiting no longer rested the squadrons, so my "rear guard" finally exited.
Total losses not counting the peasants and archers: 22
Total losses to the "winner": Over 1000.
Not exactly how I envisioned things happening. :)
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