Run through rather than attack?

[alpaca]

I've never noticed this being terribly effective with infantry, but with cavalry there's a good reason for it to work, and work well.

Cavalry can't attack to the front, so it's very easy to get a situation where a neat rank of cavalrymen are just sitting there, horse-nose-to-enemy, doing nothing.

Mounted units can, however, attack while moving (the rider attacks, the mount moves), so if they charge through an enemy, the knights swing at the enemies that pass to their sides, and tear them up.

Meanwhile, the infantry that would've taken potshots at the noses of the poor, stuck horses, are busy shuffling around and turning to face the running knights, and get slaughtered.

It can be quite dangerous against the wrong enemies, but it works especially well in a cavalry-vs-cavalry situation, where it's easy for both sides to get stuck nose-to-nose and do nothing.

The reason why it works with infantry is that the individual soldier will stop to fight when he meets an enemy (usually) - the advantage is that they're in a tight bunch though and not spread out thinly.

[Rhedd]

The reason why it works with infantry is that the individual soldier will stop to fight when he meets an enemy (usually) - the advantage is that they're in a tight bunch though and not spread out thinly.

Interesting.

I'll have to test it out and see how it goes.

[antisocialmunky]

Yes, this works very well. They cause higher casualties but may take higher casualties in exchange.