Ashigaru Yari = WEAK

[Lanemerkel1]

My Ashigaru Yari just broke and a ran before they even touched the enemy line! sending all the enemy strenght on......my archers

[matteus the inbred]

This is a common habit of Yari Ashigaru, although i have to admit mine generally managed to make contact before letting me down!
Believe it or not, i used to get cross when they ran away from Warrior Monks in a similar fashion...now that's wishful thinking! The honour bonus from Owari does not apparently make them invincible...

[Catiline]

They're got two uses. Soaking up enemy missle fire, and flanking. IIRC they're relatively nippy so if you keep them out of trouble they can cause some issues round the sides. Obsolete for that once you have no dachi or uber monks of course.

[matteus the inbred]

agreed. early on you can use them for cheap pursuit troops as well, as they're quicker than samurai infantry...the name ashigaru means something like 'light feet'

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Still, you're doing something wrong if they are running before reaching the enemy line.

[Lanemerkel1]

Still, you're doing something wrong if they are running before reaching the enemy line.

maybe it's because 1 unit of them and 1 unit of Samurai archers were charging head first into 3 units of rebel samurai warriors (which my intel pointed to as weak units)