Don't get me wrong, Nubians are close to worthless. They only hold limited value in early and in the desert. I still believe higher numbers and higher morale give them some staying power. But UM in their flank will take them down, so they are to be used carefully.

As to different playing styles: I use spearmen either in the middle of formations to recieve the AI's (never playing MP) cavalry charge, or inf. charge. Then I use other units to engage the troops the spears have pinned through not breaking.

On the flanks, the AI usually likes to place some cav. Like you, I prefer to engage these either with cav of my own, or to lure them to my spears with HA. Therefore my spears don't run around, or engage other inf. in the battles where I can control the relative setup.

Where it gets funny is offcause the battles where you either have a substandard army, or is outnumbered, or is placed at the bottom of a slope. In these cases the Nubians lack the versatility of cav and regular inf. When used as 'flank cover' as you put it, they can very easily be either surrounded or engaged in an akward position.

So I think we agree, they're not useless, just close to



/KotR