Quote Originally Posted by Musashi
Ah you have a point there. Still, I'd love to have a run at the Americas with the HRE's mounted pistols or Egypt's mounted muskets...
After some experimenting with HRE vs. Aztecs, I've gotten the impression that Reiters will prove effective to the point of being decisive. Normal cavalry, even Gothic Knights, fare pretty badly against the Aztecs; the initial charge is, of course, devastating, but there are so many Aztecs and their melee skills are so good that even Gothics quickly get torn to shreds. Reiters, on the other hand, can with care avoid too much trouble with the Aztec infantry thanks to their being mounted, their pistols are quite effective at short range (and, of course, are SCAWY! ), AND they're still able to charge home reasonably well - but this time against weakened, worried troops

For the most part, I've concluded that trying to take on the Aztecs in melee is suicidal - even Zweihanders get chewed up - UNLESS you're using pikes (and there you still have to take extra care of your flanks).

When/if I get to the Americas in my current HRE campaign, I'd ideally like to bring

1 General
8-10 pike (Landsknechts or Swiss ideally)
4 Reiters
3-5 Pavise Crossbowmen
2 Arquebusiers

I'm still fiddling around with how it works in custom battles, but tentatively it appears quite effective.