Quote Originally Posted by Slon
The thing about using "wait for enemy to charge you" tactics with high-end units like armoured elephants and SS pikemen is that you WILL take losses from enemy archers.
Dude,

I don't sit there like a turkey, reading a copy of My Pet Donkey and scratching my nuts whilst hoards of archers trash my VERY precious troops. Keep in mind that my standard army comprises 6 onagers shooting fire pots. The enemy get's mullered all the way.... then sure, some semi-battered archers get into range of my infantry.......cool, they shoot some arrows, I return fire with 6 onagers....I loose a couple of guys, they loose maybe 30-50 per volley. Hell, if a particular unit of archers is getting some good shots in, (and they usually do this from front-left or front-right of my battle line) cool, I'll whip the fastest cav unit out from the same flank and hit them just hard enough to make them poop-it and run. Then I pull them back and watch my BBQ progress. At this point, if they are still up for a fight and charge, then the following happens..... A battered, depleted, and exhausted army hits my as-yet-unmoved, eager line infantry. Ok, my onagers are tired, so I'll let them rest for a few minutes.....hell, I'll need them on top form when I open fire again on the enemy as they run away......usually because at just this point I use my totally rested and probably as-yet unmoved flanking cav to smash in on both flanks. It's a pretty reliable strategy, it's been used for thousands of years and I consider myself to have had a BAD day if I have a kill ratio of less than 10 to 1.

But yes, I do wait for the enemy to charge me, but whilst I'm waiting, they are getting crispy.