Quote Originally Posted by Maharajah
Speaking of Agincourt and chain routing, I was playing the historical campaign the other day and I have not been able to win at Agincourt.

First, I tried hiding my spears/Billmen in the woods to force the cavalry to fight at a disadvantage and skirmished with my longbows. Well my longbows were annihilated, no surprise but I thought they would inflict some punishement (not), then my spears routed in the forest and I was crushed.

Second I tried building a half-hexagon of billmen and spears with my longbows packed in the middle and some FMAA at the back to stiffen spines. I then tried to hit the flanks of the on rushing French Hvy Cav horde with all of my Knights when they were pinned on the spears. This was working beautifully until my billmen, for some unknown reason, tried to advance even though they were on hold position, hold formation.
Of course my lines were disrupted and everyone routed and was cut down.

I'll tell you what's not best in life: "to be crushed by my enemy, see my troops driven before me and to hear the lamentation of my women..."

Any advice? Seems like the longbowmen don't have enough time to inflict the kind of damage they did historically and the cavalry is not hampered at all by the mud.
I did the following:
I positioned the Chiv Sergeants (in the center - CS need their flanks protected at all cost) and the Billmen in a line at the hedge that marks the edge of the big field (there´s a minimal rise in terrain - maybe enough for a small uphill bonus) The Longbows were positioned behind them. The swords I put into the woods on the left flank, the French don´t have any infantry to speak of, but loads of cavalry and if those caught my swords in the open, there´d be hell to pay. My own cavalry went to the back. After that it was mainly downhill - the French came up rather slowly, and my Longbows could pick off a good number before they even met my infantry. The swords in the woods on the left flank could hold their own, in the center my CS routed, but rushing King Harry into the breach prevented the breakthrough. The billmen protected the flanks by attacking (important - they need to rush out and attack) the French that tried to move around the inner flanks (between the battle line and the trees on either side). That caused the French units to present their flanks to my reserve cavalry, of which I took advantage. When the Longbows had spent their arrows I placed them in the woods as well where they could hold their own well enough. And that was it, basically.