Hello Glen ...

Bad luck at losing the battle - never a good feeling. Sounds like it was an epic encounter, though.

At first glance the Almohad force looks much stronger - unit for unit his troops are better, and outnumber yours. If I had been the Spanish I would have been nervous about the outcome of the battle from the start. What you describe seems realistic to me - and you did well to rout his infantry.

The Muwahids, though a smaller unit, are better spears than Feudal Sergeants, and have better morale. They should have slaughtered your Archers in that fight.

The AUM (Almohad Urban Militia) are the jewel in the Almohad infantry crown. They are stronger again, and much better than anything you have - they should walk through your Urban Militia and Feudal Sergeants. Even uphill the Almos should do better. I'm not surprised your troops were shown as losing badly everywhere. Nonetheless it seems your infantry won the day in their battle, but with high casualties.

I'm not sure why the Ghulams won uphill against your spears - the ordinary ones, I assume. I would suspect that the Ghulams were high valour units. Did your spears have any armour bonuses? With them losing so badly they needed help much sooner - you mention only that an RK unit lost 19 against them. At this point I'd have been looking to attack their rear or flank with your RKs and charging them in. The big danger was that when the Ghulams won all your troops would suffer a big morale loss with cavalry in their rear.

With your troop placement I'd have put the Archers behind the spears. When they were out of ammunition I'd have been looking to flank with them - they are not good in melee, being weaker than anything the Almos had, except possibly his peasants. Putting them into to hand to hand fight is a last resort. They were no match for Muwahids.

The princes - Royal Knights - might have been better placed at the back, rather than the front. I'd have been looking to flank with them, attacking his Desert Archers first, and then charging his infantry from the rear. This would also have lowered the Almo morale. I'd have been looking to engage his Ghulams with them, attacking his flank while your spear units were pinning them ... or charging downhill at them.

You've not mentioned the number of stars of the opposing generals - your king, and the Khalifah. This is the single most important factor - if the Khalifah had more stars than your king the already stronger Almos would have been further boosted.

You've also not mentioned Armour, and Valour - another two important factors. Did your troops have Armour bonuses - from an Armourer, or Armourers Workshop? Did his? This will affect the amount of casualties you get, and how quickly you get them.

With the tactics, I'm wondering if you let your infantry chase the Almos for too long when they routed. With the spears losing against the Ghulams I'd have been looking to bring back the Feudal Sergeants to fight them. Here too the Royal Knights would have been effective hitting them from the flank while they were engaged frontally with your spears. You could have let what was left of your UM and Archers chase his routers.

Regarding the battle overall it seems morale was a decisive factor. First the Almo infantry morale collapsed and they routed. Then your spears losing to the Ghulams broke. Now the Almos had cavalry units behind your infantry - which would have panicked them. Your troops' morale collapsed in turn, and everyone ran away, leaving the field to the Almos.

Your force, for a Spanish force, seems to lack FMAA (Feudal Men at Arms), Militia Sergeants - and Spanish Jinetes. Also Javelinmen.

The FMAA and Militia Sergeants would have been good against his Muwahids and might have held his AUM while other troops attacked their flanks. The Javelinmen would have been good against his Ghulams - behind the spears,or flanking the Ghulams. They would have caused many more casualties there.

Finally the Jinetes are one of the most useful Spanish units - and would have caused casualties to all the Almo units. You might have been able to pull his Ghulams away with them, and being faster, the Ghulams would have trouble catching them to engage. Jinetes are also ideal for chasing routers.

It's easy to say these things after the event - and it sounds like the battle was a very close thing. It was his 2 Ghulam units that proved decisive, and that's not such a big margin. Those Ghulams must have been of high valour. In fact, I'm surprised that you managed to defeat his infantry.

Now you have a battle with the remains of both armies. You don't give the composition of the troops, but it sounds like a close thing. Check the valour and armour of the opposing units. Look to pin his better units with your spears, and get other units to do flank and rear attacks. Get at least one of your units completely behind his to lower the morale of his troops. Try and beat his weakest units decisively to get them routing further lowering the morale of his troops.

I wonder if you've read FrostBeastEgg's guide in the Guides section here. A good read if you haven't done so - about the units and tactics for them.

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/forumdisplay.php?f=47

Also, the YAS unit comparison guide, where you can check the stats of the MTW VI units. It's on a long list of downloads, available here:

http://www.atomicgamer.com/directory.php?id=1173

Good luck - and let us know how it turns out.