Well I've been paying even more attention to close combat since reading the earlier posts, particularly during pursuits and I've noticed a number of things.
1) Units die without being subject to a hit animation. The most common is the instance where a horseman bumps into a routing unit and one of the routers just drops dead on the spot. There was still a collision but the attacker sometimes didn't go through any animation.
2) Routing units frequently run right through a formed unit whilst only taking a few casualties.
3) I've still not seen anyone die for no apparent reason, there is always at least a bump, even though no sword is swung.
4) I've still not seen anything that looked like a 'friendly fire' event in close combat. Two units of horse archers ordered to pursue the same routed unit sometimes inflict casualties on each other but that is almost certainly due to stray arrows due to their continued use of the bow even when in melee combat.
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