If you can avoid it, never use plain vanilla archers. They aren't Armour piercing. Use crossbows, arbs, longbows, or recurves which have armour piercing ability (Janissaries, Bulgarian Brigands, etc.). On a regular field (no mountains or rivers) I always place my crossbows & arbs just in front of my heavies, in double line. Single spreads them out too far. Always have them on skirmish. If you select targets, which is often wise, you must watch them or they'll get flanked & hit by another unit. They will only skirmish with their assigned unit and are vulnerable. I keep them in front because of their flat trajectory. Regular bows I place just behind my heavies, since they can shoot over the line (mostly). Keep them on hold position or they won't stay put. At times you're better off to pick targets for them, else they'll waste ammo on peasants and such. Also be careful when targeting specific units because your own archers then become oblivious to any of your own troops who happen to get in the way. You need to watch them pretty closely if you can. They can be devastating when used well, and mounted archers can wreck horrific damage. I had a unit of Turcopolas (100 men) demolish a 100 man Svea Axeman unit tonight (Med Mod), just by letting them fire and retreat on skirmish as the Danes tried to catch them. When exhausted & wavering, I let them charge and routed them, capturing or killing the lot. Again, you must watch so they don't back themselves into the edge with no withdraw possible. Archers are really a lot of fun, but it takes time to learn their quirks. Sadly, once you learn most of the details of any game, it starts to get boring. I ain't there yet & have been playing for almost a year--just about daily. Lord, I keep finding out new stuff. I love it