Quote Originally Posted by Deus ret.
Never ever use the bodyguard of an average family member to chase retreating units. Since their size has been halved roughly, even plain javelinmen will easily finish off the unit after its charge has burned out.
Good advice, but I suspect there is some wierd bug with skirmishers against cavalry. I often find I charge heavy cavalry into retreating skirmishers and the little blighters turn around and kill about a third of my men very quickly. It's like the cavalry stop charging when among the skirmishers stop running. The cavalry do very little damage and seem much more vulnerable than if they have waded into a compact formation of heavy infantry. I don't know how to explain it, but it has made me very cautious of unleashing cavalry on skirmishers (which I did with abandon in MTW).