What is your go-to army composition?

[Sociopsychoactive]

So I've just finished an Icini campaign and thought I'd share.

I go infantry heavy in my armies with almost all factions. With Britons it was...

6 spear band (chosen spear band once available)
6 sword band (ditto)
2 slingers and 2 skirmishers
2 scout cavalry (replaced with veteren riders when they were finally available)
1 ballistae (mainly for sieges but usefull in forcing the defender to attack, ammo upgrades a must)
Heroic nobles general (much more effective than cav for early battles)

I stuck with this for the entire campaign and felt it worked well against almost any enemy army composition. My basic strategy as to force the enemy into charging, catch the bulk of the charge on the spears (braced if possible) and then move in the swords to mince away while any spare infantry moved around to roll up the whole battle line. The only times I found it didn't work well was against cav heavy armies that equal me in infantry, as they could outmanouver me and my spears were always needed on the front line. In these instances I always had to get the enemy focussed on one part of the battle with a few heavy hitting but disposable units and chase down as much cav as possible while they fought to the end before re-engaging with the main force.

I also tended to array them the same for most battles.

Sp = spear band
Sw = sword band
M = Missile troops
C = cav
G = General
B = Balistae


-----------------M---M---M---M
Sp Sp Sw Sw Sw Sp Sp Sw Sw Sw Sp Sp
C---------------------G----------------------C
-----------------------B

The middle spears can't kill much but hold well and counter a central cav charge from the enemy well.