Golden Horde!

[gollum]

Originally posted by Vantek
:S this sounds absolutely impossible!! Pics?

Sorry for the late reply Vantek, but because you didnt quote me i missed the question. Its actually very easy, and although i have not the game installed at the moment to make example screenshots i'll try to describe and demonstrate diagramatically with a plan (top down) perspective:

cav cav

sp sp

arb arb arb

As the enemy approaches you can engage him and rotate the spears for a few degrees either way (just prior or just after engagement); this will make them "turn" the enemy in such a way that they'll expose their flank to your arbalesters.

If you are afraid that the rotation will make your spear units vulnerable to rear charges in turn, you can use them in pairs, like so:

cav cav

spsp

arb arb

and do reverse rotations with each spear so that they protect their partners back while exposing the enemy's rear/flank to arbalester fire.

This formation works with decent/good morale spears against heavy cavalry heavy enemies and particularly well against the horde, especially in those instances that a lot of Mongol heavy cavalry enters the scene at once. Obviously its a bad idea against sword heavy armies as your spears will be routed.

Although it works in flat ground too, it works even better if the ground slopes in your favor, say from the top of the page towadrs the bottom in the above diagrams.

Buildings or clusters of building or forests can aid such a deployment as you can anchor the end of your battle line (that make it easier to guard against flanking or picking up your line progressively from there), or even deploy a bit behind them if you are facing heavy cavalry armies with sword and bow armies; this will slow down the enemy in order to reach you giving your bows and swords a fighting chance. If no such features are available you might want to choose a slope that is adjacent to the side edge of the map, and so this will provide a natural guard against flanking from that direction.



PS The gap between spears in the first diagram is about the width of 2 full units, while the arbalesters should be space staggered with the spears and with a clear view to the gaps that form between them. Naturally you may want to seek to actively engage the incoming cavalry with your spears, seeking to protect the arbs and pin them in place, and let the bolts do the killing. Also dont neglect to have some distance between the arbs and the spears, if too close the heavy cavalry willpartially engage the missiles and if too far the arbs wont get enough punch and clear shot to deal lots of casualties as they should.