Quote Originally Posted by Goofball
I was defending a siege and managed to take a unit of Christian Guards out the side gate and sneak them up behind a unit of Pavise Crossbowment who were stationary and firing at my wall defenders, oblivious to the threat behind them.
I thought that was quite an amusing anecdote, and so clearly atypical, judging by my experience, that I decided to try out those Christian Guards.

Out of 10 tests, the Guards executed 6 good charges using the single-click method. A few times, their formation was broken up by bolts and did a messy, ineffectual charge. Twice, a few of the lead units did the "hero" thing and ran ahead, screwing up the charge.

But the really interesting results came when on a whim I set up one Chrisitan Guards vs. 4 Italian militia on the Arsuf map. Wiped out all four of those units using charge-and-withdraw tactics, and each charge was a double-click, or running charge. The one time I did a single-click slow startup charge, that "hero" thing came in and a few of them screwed it up.

So, pending further tests in real campaigns, I'm recommending the dash-charge for lance using units.