i would say that depends on the secondary weapon carried (e.g. knifes are bad, kopis/falcata would be good)...

and how many armour the unit wears.
light armored units may have a disadvantage when facing heavier armored troops. => they might get killed a lot faster, than it can kill the enemy.

so make yourself a guess (by reading unit description text) which unit may stay in close quarter battles.