Thanks, Deus ret. I was out of town on business for months, and then my computer died. But it's nice to be back.

There were some really good threads on javelins in the old MTW forum, but the best javelin troops and units to work with them were in Muslim factions, plus the Hungarians.

The best way to use javelins in MTW is to get them to shoot at the enemy's backs, but the quickest way is to cram them right up behind a thin line of your own melee troops. Be sure to turn the javelin throwers off fire-at-will and order them to fire by clicking.

The thrown javelins will go right over your melee troops and do serious damage to the enemy armored troops, including morale damage from losses. This saves lives of your own armored troops.

When the enemy breaks, have the javelin troops alt attack and melee. Most javelin troops are faster than regular foot troops in MTW. They'll take hordes of prisoners while your original melee troops can break off the pursuit and go attack another unit.