[discussion] your greatest BI battle

[cellnight]

hi, thought i could create this topic, for u all to post your battles

my biggest battle was with the FRANKS vs WEST ROMAN EMPIRE, it was a quite peaceful day, wen the romans decided to ruin it . i had 2 thousand men in my city, they had
3.4 thousand, with my general away killin things i was in trouble. this was a bad day for me, they had built two seige towers, two ladders, and a battering ram well i put my best heavy infantry on the walls, knowing they would have there best attackin me on the walls so, my infantry were in place, and my archers on the gateway, and below on the ground. the time had come and they started two move. there seige tower went exactly were i wanted them two go, straight for my heavy infantry.

i had my light infantry on another walls waitin to attack from behind. my archers fired upon the ladders, takin out half of their men there. but they proceded to the wall, then they started to climb, just when they got on the wall, there seige tower reached me, so in a battle already i was goin to be attacked from behind, i ordered my other heavy infantry(the ones waitin on the wall for the seige tower)to attack the troops who were comin from behind my other heavy infantry, this left one wall with only light infatnry guarding it. . so i was in a long brutal battle on the eastern wall, nxt to my gate. wen suddenly the other seige tower reached, and deployed its troops upon my light infantry . my archers on the ground were firing in all directions trying to help, but were doin little damage. on my east wall victory was mine, but not the war, so my heavy infantry ran to back up the west wall. it was then i noticed there ramaining troops running to the ladders, i knew if they made it they would masdacre wat i had left of my army on the walls, so i sent all my cavalry i had out of the city to attack them from behind, they were victorius attacking them just before they reached the walls, delighted with the small victory i still was in trouble, with my infantry gettin whooped on the walls, so all my archers were sent below on the ground to fire upwards on the enemy, using flamed arrows i started to kick there butts, i was victorius, but to my horrior there reinfrocments arrived, (i nvr looked at the battle screen to see if there any reinforcements :laughing: ), i knew i would nvr make it with only 250 heavy infantry, 150 archers, and 200 cavalry. so just i was lookin at my T.V.(i was watching KINGDOM OF HEAVEN) it spurred me to attack them head on, so i moved all my exhausted troops out of the city, with my heavy infrantry infornt archers behind them and cavalry further back, i marched north to take on 1 thousand fresh infrantry.

sending in 1 unit of infantry 2 attack i used war cry, to improve there stats, and they were doin great with my archers in support, wen the enemy slowly surrounded my infantry i sent in my last unit of infantry to attack from behind, again using war cry, they took half of their army OUT :laughing: . but there still was the reserves, . this is were i massacred them luring there troops to my archers, with my infantry throwing axes everywere. i sent my cavarly through my troops to meet the enemy head on, by that time my cavalry were again fresh for batte and the enemy tired from chasing archers, they were no match for me, and again shocked to see my general had then came to my aid, after a bloody battle, (again i nvr knew of support for me )

that has been my best battle so far, so post your battles here for some good reading

[pansarskott]

My greatest battle was against the huns as the ERE! Three of their horde armies tried to cross a river into my territory but it was guarded by my best general...

Twise they broke troughe my center and twise they were repulsed..at some spots you couldent see the water becuse of all the corpses!

[God-Emperor of Mankind]

Ah yes I know just the thing.
I was playing WRE and the gothic horde had seiged one of my cities.
The garrison consisted of 3 limtates(sp??) 2 comitantes(sp??) 1 sarmatian aux and feodarti(sp??) cavalry, one unit of priest and a family member.
2 turns and they attacked with 2 full stacks, over 4000 troops.
I put the limtates on the walls and the comitantes on the ground with the priests and the cavalry on the square.
The goths got on the walls and made short work of the guys up there and opened the gates and the horde(both armies) rushed through the gates.
My Comitantes held their ground nicely thanks to the priests but routed sooner or later.
Well all hope was lost so I decided a glorious charge with all my cavalry would be a honorable thing to lose this battle so I put all the cavalry on a street where the main goth force was marching on.
Meanwhile the surviving comitantes made it to the square with only around 20 guys left.
And then I ordered the cavalry to charge the goths and they hit hard.
After 10 minutes of fighting I was surprised to see that their casualties were small and that the goths were actually wavering. Meanwhile a second small goth force took another road and was at the square but the rest of the comitantes managed to rout them with few casualties.
Meanwhile at the other battle my family member got killed and I thought that the end was near but for some reason the goths broke and the huge army started to run away.
What was left of the cavalry chased after them and killed alot of goths and followed them out through the gate.
I thought that victory was mine but then the goths suddenly got their courage back and surrounded my cavalry and made short work out of them.
And now all that was left was the 16 comitantes on the square.
And well with 1600 goths against 16 comitantes the results are pretty obvious.

My men killed over 2000 goths and was a glorious and fun battle.

[jrs90]

My greatest battle was with the Romano-Brits on the Pax Britannia mod. After conquering england I was going around my Allies the WRE in France. Soon after destroying the French and alemanni I proceeded towards the sea near ERE land and currently being the providence of the Romans(WR) I Met up with the Horde of the Vandals. They still hadnt settled. They blocked my route to a settlement that I needed by 3 turns because of money problems and religion in the area. So I made a bold move and attacked one of their characters. Soon I saw they were close together and I would have to beat 4 characters to win, which had about 4 1/2 times mine. The odds were realy against me. But I didn't call it off. We were on some lowlands, surrounded by thick woods. Luckily I started on the perfect spot. It was a large rocky hill in the middle of the meadow. I Placed my general and archers atop it. they were well protected because u had to go around to engage them. Also the poor vandals only had missle units of missle calvary, while I had advanced archers, out-distancing them greatly. I couldnt allow my archers to fire at will because of the lack of ammo. when the vandals came they quickly sent in their missle calvary. I routed them with fire arrows before they got in range. They than sent in their infantry because their only melee calvary was their generals. I successfully routed them and their genral with my rare Graal Knights which I could only get from england. The next 2 characters soon appeared as they ran. They were't much different than the last army except there was 2 of them. I quickl attacked with my british legions hiding kin the woods and routed one of the armys before the other could join them. But weakened I called my legions to the hill by my general and attacked them with what infantry I had left. They were routed but I didnt have enough infantry for the next attack. When the reinforcements came I waited at the top of the hill and gave them every thing I had. But I soon relized I was going to loose. So I looked for my graal Knights to save me but I had forgotten about them and they had gone to the other edge of the map after routing units from another army. I called them back but tried not to rely on them because they were a long ways from helping I had no choose but to fire on the enemy with my archers while my infantry was still there. I even was forced to attack with my general. I struggled for a longtime in a close match but I knew I was going to lose. But then right on time came the Graal Knights. They cut down units chasing my routers and my routers soon gained morale and started to chase them. I soon made an all out strike on the enemy general who was engaged with mine. My general's unit had only 15/27 units left
but my Graal knights saved the day again and killed the enemy. :sweatingb
I looked atthe statics from the battle and was amazed. A single army taking on an enemy more than 4 times their size had barely won. My arhcers were out of ammo...LOL... and the graals gained a lot of xp. After the battle I wase asked with I wanted to adopt the captain as a family member. I accepted. :original:

[mike007]

Cool stories guys

My best was with the SPQR mod, playing as the romans. I made a raiding mission into the gaul territory & sacked one of thier towns for some much needed cash. i decided to give my troops a much needed rest & let them stay the night, raping & pilaging as they do.

Next morning i wake up to find my self besiged by 3 full stacks of gauls, one being their 7 star faction leader. All units had at lease 3 bronze chevrons experiance, most were in the silver. Basicly i was outnumberd 6 to 1.!!! Big mistake staying the night!? maybe not...

My troops consisted of hasitii, triarii, a few slingers, 2 catapult units & my faction leader all with at least 1 bronze chevron. I forgot about the walls because they were only wooden, so i stack my whole army into the small city square. I got my Triarii to block all the entrances & backed my hasitii behind with fire at will. one unique thing i did which i have never done before was put the catapults just in front of the triarii so the crews where protected & they could just shoot without cuasing friendly casualties

The gauls made short work of my walls & entered from the one direction (big mistake). I let my catapults fire at will with flames on & they were taking out about 5-10 gauls with each shot. The battle lines clashed but my lines held & the catapults were able to keep firing, point plank range, tearing the sh!t out of the gauls, the carnage was amazing to watch! It went on for about 2 minutes & they wouldnt break. So i aimed my catapuls at their faction leader who was a few 100 yards away & after about 3 shots they got lucky & took him down. Suddenly a massive chain reaction happened & the whole army broke, giving me an instant win. I continued the battle & charged with my general killing 100's of units.

At the end of the battle, my catapult units killed over 200 each & my general over 1000 gaining 3 exp points.

i would of most certainly lost if it wasnt for the catapults on flame mode, they kicked soo much ass its not funny.
I highly recommend using that placing technique, they took no casualties & kill none of my own troops.

[Seleukos]

This battle was me (ERE) vrs the Sassanids deap in Armenia. I was ready to engage a full stack that was just out of the reach in movement points. I entered the valley in Armenia coming from the south. I ended turn, low and behold, the second and last Sassanid full stack appears from the west. It attacks me and I get stuck in a three way battle. Completely surrounded. This is the only standing army I can afford, and it is elite.

I deploy with one legio line facing each major army. One to the east, and one to the west. Stretching my army thin. I had my artilery and archers with what was left of my cavalry from the previous engagements. There was a lot of skirmeshing while these two armies moved forward on my lines at the same pace.

The problem was, the enemy was too numerous and strong for my units to handle. They were independently seperated from eachother. Without good cavalry support. As my units were off fighting on their own, most being surrounded, but dealing casualties in a 1:2 ratio. Their soldiers were dropping dead at double rate as mine, since mine were elite and very battle hardened.

But they were soon overwhelmed, my left flank gaining ground while my right flank was being creamed. Because my left was getting close support by the cavalry. My units started to break away from eachother, chasing fleeing units. Causing disorder. Everything went arigh then. My soldiers started to get mauled by cataphracts and Jauviline skirmishers. They were unable to hold. So I gathered what was left of my army onto the edge of the map to hold the final fight. The casualty ratio now was me: 73% losses, AI: 70% losses. Most of the enemies missile units ammunition was expended so it was a full charge from them, I had lost all my archers and my artilery was left in the open half way into the fight, which was charged by cataphracts.

My general was the faction leader, I had an eagle standard unit, first cohort. At this point, the eagle standard unit was already surrounded and annihilated. Losing my eagle. My general unit was only 2 men left, him and a bodygaurd. The 6 other units left only had 50 or so men left, starting with 160.

The last stand was me vrs the rest of their army, they had a unit of cataphracts still, so I just knew that it was the end for this eastern campaign. I had lost an eagle, lost my main standard army, and am about to lose my faction leader, even if I withdraw, there is enemy units behind. And my units are exhausted, they would have been run down. After stiff fighting to the end, every man in my army died on that battlefield.

Stats:

Sassanids:
Captain Ardashir 3577 men deployed, 907 kills, 1238 men remaining.
Captain Darayarahu 241 men deployed, 139 kills, 68 men remaining.
Ardashir 3255 men deployed, 1269 kills, 1252 men remaining.

ERE = me
Theodosius Flavius 2579 men deployed, 5225 kills, 226 men remaining.

[cellnight]

me again.

well i hav another story to tell.

it was a cold wintery day when i had a message sayin the sarmation horde was in my capitol province

bad thing about that was that i had just finished a long one and a half ho
our defence battle against the HUNS with me winning, but at a cost my army was all but wiped out, with only one unit of light infantry, one heavy, one archers.

and with a horde of sarmations marching towards them there was no choice, wat 2 do, i had 2 repenish my army and fast so my only chance 2 win was 2 get another army, so my faction leader and his army was ordered 2 my capital, they reached in time because i sent the capital army of a few men 2 intercept the sarmations, they got wiped out fast. i then saw a half stack army of my troops in ambush directly infront of the sarmations and it had 1 of my best troops, and generals iv had in RTW ever!.

so they fell into my trap of an ambush, just as my faction leader reached the capital .

the battle began with a full stack army of sarmations against a half stack exp of my troops, 1st i attacked quick and fast as they were unorganized but 2 my they pull every1 out but there light ifnatry, letting me maul them, but the rest of their army the chance 2 form up i only wiped out 500 men, and had an army still 2 face, but an organized one.

and again 2 my they charged at me, so with little time i organized my spearmen in the front line 2 hold of the charge, my axemen were behind with fire at will enabled. then my archer, artillary and a general, with more cavalry, all missile units were prepared as the clash of cavalry and infantry took on my spear men with my axemen archers standing still. my atrillary then started the bombardment a riskey menouver but worth the sacrifice, my spearmen started 2 waver then i set the axemen and archers 2 fire into the center were there strongest troops layed, it was a massacre for them, but they never changed morale wise there general was close so they never cared.

so i order my cavalry and general around the enemy army, they run fast behind them then i tutrned them and charged there general takin him out in a long brutal bash, after his death they began 2 waver with no infantry left and my archers being chased down 2 extingtion, my onegars fired upon anything that moved, i sent my cavalry and general into the forest 2 hide, when my artillary got wiped out, they started the hunt 4 my cavalry, to my my cavalry was set and my general behind them, i ran accross the river, waiting for them whislt i rested then i realised my archers never routed and sent them 2 walk to the river, and when the ramainding sarmations were in the river, my archers fire flamed arrows at them, they routed imediatly and my cavalry charged down the rest of them as they routed.

in the end the stats were like this;
sarmations: 2.6 thousand- 0 left
me : 1 thousand- 250 left
and all on the VH/VH settings

[Sitarus Originalus PM-30+]

The most amazing victory i managed to fight was when my city was attacked by about 10.000 to 11.000 slav (hords) luckally i had about 700 men and a general and i hold the city untill the time run off... lol was funny to watch slavs using only 3 ledders and some units also had to run round my city to get to them lol... slavs lost about 6.500 men and i lost about 500 ... i sure was sawed by the bell lol ... was really funny and i think gereral sawed me cos he encouraged units not to give up... ohh i was franks by the way...
i cant tell my story so nicely as you guys did, so i am apologizing for that and all writing mistakes i did =) (try not to pay attenction to them)


lol yes... sorry i forgot to meantioned before... i also am using WH/WH ... still AI isn't smart enough!!

[Valerius Publicola]

[Campaign battle. Victory conditions had already been achieved but I continue the game, thus leading to what I believe is my greatest BI battle.]

It was a long, tiring campaign to oust the Slavic hordes out of Roman lands. Fortunately, that campaign, headed by faction heir Caius Deimeticus and his army of 4 Sarmatian/Alan horse archer units with a few bronze chevrons at most, 6 legio lanciarii units, 2 comitatenses units, 2 limitanei units (one with silver chevrons, the other with bronze), and two Imperial Household Bodyguards (of Caius and another Eastern Roman whom I unfortunately forget) manages to repel the Slavs and prevent what was a near inevitable siege of Campus Iazyges after two battles against ‘isolated’ hordes.

[First Battle of Campus Iazyges (region):
Eastern Romans – 917 troops deployed, 946 Slavs slain, 159 fatalities (some casualties healed, therefore this number will be in disagreement of Romans slain in Slav side) sustained, 758 remain.
Slavic Horde – 1117 deployed nomads, 182 Roman casualties inflicted, 169 Slavs remain]

[Second Battle of Campus Iazyges (region):
Eastern Romans – 1454 deployed troops, 1227 Slavic casualties inflicted, 1356 troops remain)
Slavic Horde – 1279 deployed nomads, 105 Roman casualties inflicted, 51 Slavs remain)]

All of the hordes in the region fled to a bordering region of Sarmatia for refuge… and some pillaging of a non-Roman state. Unfortunately, that state was of an ally, the Sarmatians.

If the Slavs somehow manage capture the settlement in the region, I risk a full-scale war with the Slavs, not only nuisance from their homeless hordes of hobos with weapons. Although it would be most likely a successful campaign in my part to retake the settlement (if it falls from Sarmatian hands), even more Slavic hordes would result from the capture.

Considering this, I decide to launch a preventive campaign to oust the Slavs from the area for good. I took about 1843 Romans from Campus Iazyges and bordering Roman settlements, put them under the command of Caius Deimeticus, and marched them in pursuit of the Slavic Hordes. At the same time, I took a detachment of about 700 silver-armored, armed, and chevron troops of Constantinople’s Guard (comitatenses units, mostly) and marched them in the direction of the actual Sarmatian settlement in order to reinforce the troops after a while.

So I pursue the Slavs, but instead of having to play the cat-and-mouse game all across Sarmatia until those hordes reach the settlement, the Slavic hordes, divided into three armies, attack Caius Deimeticus’ army. The 1843 Romans were themselves divided into two armies. I put the lesser army under AI control and I myself assumed control of Caius’ division. The Slavs were 3336 strong comprised of a variety of horde infantry and horse archers. Facing about 2:3 odds in number, I began the Battle of Sarmatia Woods.

I originally hid my main body of infantry in the woods with a line of infantry in the front and a small unit of archers behind it. The cavalry, comprised of Imperial Household Bodyguards, 3-4 Sarmatian/Alan Horse Archer mercenaries, and 2 units of Alan Noble Cavalry, I arrange into one large group. I make the first move, advancing the cavalry body and directly assaulting the right wing of the first Slavic divisions’ cavalry. A long skirmish-turned-to-chase ensues, but I do end up routing the enemy cavalry units. By this time, however, both my allied division under AI Captain Cassius and the other two Slavic divisions enter the field. The foolish AI Captain Cassius immediately sends his entire division selfishly into the Slavic front and pays for that mistake utterly. Cassius’ men begin to drop like cattle being slaughtered. I then divide my cavalry detachment in half: one half to support Cassius and one to rout the enemy cavalry units.

Cassius doesn’t live to command very long, he is slain in a shower of arrows. The rest of his troops were utterly crushed by the enemy’s superior numbers, although managing to rout a handful of the hordes. The detachment of cavalry I sent to aid was also badly battered from combat, and so was the other detachment I launched to attack other enemy cavalry. As a result, I withdraw my cavalry division as a whole from open field back to the woods behind the cover of infantry. Most of the units get there, but two horse archer units are tangled in a sandwich of Slavs. I then deploy my infantry into open field with the cavalry taking wings to support the two horse archer units. They are successful, fighting back a few of the enemy’s infantry and cavalry forces and forcing them to rout. From there, the battle turns into a melee, with dozens of troops from both sides being caught in death’s grasp. Finally, however, I withdraw the two Imperial Household Bodyguards under my two generals from the melee, maneuver them behind the enemy’s side of the mass melee, and charged right into their backdoor. Several of the enemy’s exhausted units began routed immediately. The infantry cleaned up the rest with ease. Rome had been victorious, but at a cost of a few *understatement* good Romans (with the exception of Cassius, I blame a large amount of the casualties on him, that man deserved to die!)

Battle of Sarmatia Woods:

The Eastern Romans under Caius Deimeticus + Captain Cassius *slain*:
Deployed: 1843 (1090 under Caius, 753 under Cassius)
Casualties Inflicted: 2256 by Caius’ division, 492 by Cassius (2748 casualties inflicted)
Remaining Troops: 569 (435 under Caius, 134 under Cassius, Cassius slain)

Slavic Hordes under Tato the Warthful *slain*, Lethu *slain*, and Captain Freawine *slain*:
Deployed: 3336 (Tato the Warthful: 1156, Lethu: 1114, Freawine: 1066)
Casualties Inflicted: 1487 (Tato the Warthful: 197, Lethu: 722, Freawine: 568)
Remaining Troops: 538 (Tato the Warthful: 136, Lethu: 168, Freawine: 234)

If it wasn’t for the bloody horrific AI of Cassius, I believe the battle would have had much better results in my part.

As a result, the Slavs fully retreat from Sarmatia. Caius returns to Campus Iazyges a local hero. The Slavs begin to regroup for another assault, but Caius himself retrains. Not only that, but there are a bunch of reinforcements to come straight from Constantinople. It is definitely the end of major Slavic nuisance in Eastern Roman lands.

[Sitarus Originalus PM-30+]

Well done servus =) this was a great victory... worthy or a roman armes =)) (somethig like that) i also see you used peasants =) even better victory =) hehe... i am looking foreward to hear from you soon, since you seem a good writer and a great warrior =)
where are you from? and what other games you play?

[I Have a Clever Name]

The best for me was when I had about 8 comitanses with two foederati (sp?) cavalry vs. an entire Gothic migration, with my army bottled up in a fort. Managed to inflict four and a half thousand casualties before becoming overwhelmed - good stuff.

[mercja]

My greatest battle thus far was as the ERE, I held off the 4 full stacks of invading Vandals. I knew they would try and sack my most farthest eastern provence, so I built an army full of archers and infantry to hold them from taking my walls. They eventually did but I strategically placed my general and other calvary in diffrent locations inther city. Just as the Vandals' remaining forces were in intense combat with my reserves near the center of town I took advantage of my choke point I created and decimated the rest of the Vandals and hunted them down. At the end of my heroic victory half my army was gone and only a little under 200 Vandals remained. This was on M/M.

[Shadows]

i just had my most amazing battle in Bi ever. i am the Allemanni and im pretty well setup except for one city and the Samartian horde of course attacks that one settlement. So the battleplan is as follows
Alemanni(me) - 1471 (5 spear warband and 3 burgundian lancers with a general)
Samartian(the baddies) - 2573 plus a 2515 reinforcement stack (all kinds of barbarians (15 infantry units total))
It began with me holding onto my stone walls very well. The nthe second stack brought its infantry into the gameplan. I ended up having barbarians climbing up ladders onto my walls at an alarming rate. I had my 4 spearwarbands that are left fighting on the left side of my gateway. against an amazing 13 infantry units(mostly horde chosen swordsmen). I managed to hold them off for over15 minutes, untill i had only 6 minutes left on the timer. Lost every single spearman (80% of my troops) and they lost almost half of their army (all infantry). Then my gateway fell. I ended up spending the last 5 minutes using my burgundian lancers to plug up my streets. (in that time one lancer unit got 400+ kills). I won the battle by time limit.
End results: ME- 496 (*healed 200 spearmen)
Samartians- ~2,000 (mostly cavalry)
This is without a doubt my best battle, i was very surprised at how me infantry reacted and they would charge anew whenever i told them to attack again. Im still amazed i actually won.

[humvee2800]

I once had the funniest set of seiges ever.i was using a special modifitcation that allows me too play as ostrogoths when after i captured all of italy the barbarians started attacking my most heavily defended city.

All the goths followed by all the sarmatians followed by all the huns followed by all the slavs atacked this one city in a line


and i won

[hunter260859]

Mine would have to be when i was the goths early in the game and the huns were on the move 3 full stacks attacked my settelment i sent for aid to a nearby city my general came with about 300 men with the 200 which was at the settlement as garrsion i came out of the wooden walls and i but my goth spearmen in shiltron thinking my situation was hopeless there calvary charged at me but my infantry and archers slaughterd alot of them all there cavarly archers where firing at my goth spearmen and surprisingly my men did not die i lost about 100 men killed the lot of them and one all thanks to my archers god bless there cotton socks

[Darth Wong]

http://www.stardestroyer.net/Mike/So.../KillRatio.jpg

549 men against 5019, defending one of my cities. I walked away with 287 men left, and he was basically annihilated. And it wasn't one of those situations where the AI goes buggy and the enemy stands outside my walls getting nailed; he took my walls and entered the city.

[hunter260859]

WOAH nice one tell me what you did tatic wise.

[Darth Wong]

I tried to hold them off the walls but my forces were just too weak. A mixture of low-grade infantry, peasants, and a handful of archers. So I reloaded and tried again, this time deciding to let them take the walls so I can fight them in the streets. When they entered the city, I positioned my three units of archers strategically on the walls (well away from the gate which the enemy had taken) and micro-managed them so that they would always fire into the backs of the enemy men when they tried to head toward the citadel. Archers are vastly more effective when shooting into the backs of the enemy.

I also used my peasants to retake the gatehouse a couple of times while he still had his two reinforcing armies outside, so he would be forced to take the gatehouse again. Of course, my peasants were annihilated in the process, but their noble sacrifice delayed the enemy long enough to smash his first army. By the time his men reached the square, they were tired and they had taken so many losses from archer fire that their morale was very low, and I was able to swiftly rout them.

When the two reinforcing armies took the gatehouse again and entered the city, I didn't bother retaking the gatehouse because there was no point, but I repeated my earlier tactic of micromanaging my archers on the walls to cause maximum casualties as the enemy turned to take the streets toward the citadel. Once again, they took heavy losses but they still had enough forces by the time they reached my citadel to cause heavy losses among my men. Nevertheless, they still broke first, thanks in part to a poorly organized rush whereby they tended to show up at the citadel in small groups of one or two units at a time, which I was able to mob with all of my infantry and cavalry at once. It was touch and go, especially when his general got into the action, but I was able to hold the citadel. Morale played a large factor here; if all of the forces which arrived at the citadel had stayed and fought rather than breaking, I would have been easily defeated. But I was able to route the first arrivals, and subsequent attackers had to deal with their comrades routing and running right past them, thus dampening their morale. It's the whole "chain-reaction routing" effect.

[LSJ]

I fought a battle that turned out to be a miracle that I won!
I was playing as ERE, and my army involved had several units of Catafractarii, which were being spread among my borderland forces, two units of archers, my general, three units of lanciarii, and a unit of plumbatari.
They were in Syria, when a horde of Sassanids came through the fort one turn. When I thought I could escape the fullstack army, another comes. Both of these armies had a lot of clibinari, archers, spearmen and horsearchers plus two five star generals.

it was not looking good.
My battle started somewhat like this: I line up my infantry Lanciarii first (against massive cavalry army), plumbatari next, followed by archers and my general. I had four or so units of catafractarii at each side.

The sassanid infantry instantly charged at my left wing, and my cavalry engaged and although winning, were stuck in the middle of a horde of weaklings. Then my right wing was being harassed by horsearchers and my archers engaged their foot archers. I moved my horses back a little, as a storm of clibinari (at least eight units) charged into my infantry and through the line. Another surge of units flanked my archers and ran over them and massacred my general.
I had a few lanciarii and most of my cataphracts.
Then i reform my infantry, get one half of my cavalry to protect their back, aqnd get showered by arrows. I get a quarter of my cataphracts to go on one side of the horsearchers and archers, and another quarter on the other side. They charge, and the AI has no idea what to do, and are run over like sandcastles.
Then a horde of clibinari charge my infantry, and almost decimate them. I send one half of my catafracts to flank the clibinari successfully, but soon another horde comes and flanks them. My cavalry are slowly picked off, and my infantry doomed. I get one quarter of my cavalry to run over the fleeing men for revenge, as the other is ent in the smash into the clibinari. They get swarmed, flee, and regroup after the cliniari go back to mutilating my poor lanciarii.
I make half of my cavalry charge the Sassanid horde, driving them away from my infantry so they can regroup. As my unit gets swarmed by clibinari, my battered infantry come to the rescue. They help to kill off a great deal of enemies, but soon lose heart and run away, and my cavalry does the same. My cavalry runs up a hill thankfully, and my infantry at the bottom. The enemies were stupid then, and charge uphill. I use my spear armed cataphrats to sweep a lot of them off, and when many of them flee my infantry cut them off and massacre to fools.
it was getting better then. But soon the other horde of sassanid cavalry comes prancing around the corner and chases me downhill. My lost half has finally regrouped. I had about 20 lanciarii, 30 cataphracts or so, out of my 800 total units.
There are still about 200 clibinari left, with about 17 per unit. They make a big charge at me, but since their individual units are small, they lose heart and almost everyone flees. 185 clibinari fleeing from 21 cataphracts and 18 lanciarii (about now).

In real life I would have lost, but since the game calculates morale due to the single units mostly, having 15 men per unit is easy to break away (on huge settings). Kill 5 and they flee.

I actually survived being horribly outnumbered by superior troops, and only won due to an unrealistic aspect of the game. A horde flees from 2 dozen. I later learned that in the last charge the enemy generals were at the front, and were the ones to charge my lanciarii. They charged spears (fools) died, and that is mainly why everyone fled. In a few seconds they lost their generals and 1/3 of their units (the front lines did).

[Prof]

Do I have to say more?