Quote Originally Posted by Doug-Thompson
It was hard to get "levee masse" troops who were relatively poorly drilled to line up in those perfect lines, so the French made a virtue of necessity by adopting "quick and ragged" manuevering.
Blasphemy! The French adopted the column formation because they were REAL MEN, not sissy British adopting the woman's tactic of throwing things at the enemy. A charging Frenchman could impale three enemies at once on his bayonet; he didn't need to form perfect lines. But he could, of course, because he was a REAL MAN, and had been practising drill before he was even born.


Anyway, I use the animation fix and Billmen form a large part of the army. I try not to use dismounted knights as it is awfully demeaning for the poor fellows to go on foot. But you need at least 8 longbow units for a solid English army. The longbows plant the stakes but then step back and let the Billmen take their place in front. I leave gaps to tempt the enemy cavalry into attacking, then attack with bills when they invariably get hung up on the stakes (the AI is smart enough to form wedge to narrow its frontage, but it always seems to get caught anyway).