Actually there is no evidence of archers in wedges at Agincourt. Its an old theory that somehow has become more or less urban legend and therefore repeated on several websites including wikipedia.

Most evidence points towards archers being deployed on the flanks and perhaps some in front of the main army.

In MTW the best depth would be 2 ranks as more ranks might lose a bit in accuracy but its not much AFAIK. But it also depends on the situation. Having them in 4 ranks means you can easier control several units to focus a lot of firepower on one target.

For crossbows/arbs they need to be in 2 ranks as the flat trajectory means a lot of men cant even fire if the unit is too deep.

If you are engaging in a missile fight then loose formation as always a good thing as it reduces your losses. That of course gives your missile unit a -2 morale penalty but as long as its not supposed to engage in melee then thats not a big problem.


CBR