I also use a soft center with pincers technique, sort of a Russian WWII meets Hannibal sort of thing.. but i have 4 different combination depending of the make up of the army and the age in playing in... almost all of the formations i use are missile heavy so i need a lot of space to make it work

HC - Heavy Cav
HA - horse archers
LC - light cav
XB -Crossbows
HI - heavy Infantry
SP - spears
PK - pikes
A - archers
AT - artillery
MK - muskets
G - General

HA-LC_______________________HA-LC




____XB_________________XB


________HI_SPSPSP_HI
_________HI_SPSP_HI
__________A_A_A_A
___________AT_AT
_____________G


. the idea being let them march to me, while i work my light cav/HA around the sides (pincers) to work over the general and any arty they have and to be ready to cut off retreats. i use the XB to soft the the flanks and help finish the general if needed, they also take the incoming missiles.the archers behind my mail lines, take the flanks aswell then on to the flanks to come in the on rear. i wait for the lines to meet then the HI start to encircle their lines. AT targets the flanks or any enemy AT. i should note i always fight open battles from hill tops if possible.

this changes with powdered units wear i have flatter lines that are thinner and far more simple. The muskets and archers all focus on the back lines while the arty focuses on the front lines after the last likely volley the muskets are retreated behind the pikes and then around the the flanks to volley at the back units (if they havent routed already) from there the pikes hold the line while the Heavies work their way in the sides. the heavy horse is there to counter other horse and the encircle them as usual.


HC__HI_MK_MK_MK_MK_MK_HI__HC
__HI_P--K_P--K_P--K_P--K_HI
______A_____G_____A
_________AT___AT

the last formation i have is a something i took from the great Australian general Sir Leslie Morshead (AKA Ming the merciless, the first general to defeat the great Erwin Rommel), anyway he used a retreating core or honey pot system, where the middle lines of his army retreated into the rear trapping the army with his flanks...it looks something like the below. mind you the units are pretty far apart and facing inwards.

_HC___________________________HC
HI_MK/A_____________________MK/A_HI
HI_MK/A_____________________MK/A_HI
HI_MK/A_____________________MK/A_HI
HI_MK/A_____________________MK/A_HI
HI_MK/A_____________________MK/A_HI
HI_MK/A_____________________MK/A_HI
____________A___A___A________________
______________AT__AT___________

________________G_____________

The way it works is the archers in the middle entice the enemy to advance to wards them while retreating, once in the middle the flanks open fire while the HC and the inf move in to close the trap.. this is the hardest to get right and i mostly do it from hill tops, where it is easier to trap the army.