Okay so I'm pretty new to this game, only played around 60-70 battles although I'm not too bad (won about 95% of them, mainly due to the vast amount of noobs who play). Last game I finally conceded a loss and I'm wondering how I would go about countering the guy's army build if I face it another time. His army was comprised of about 4-5 well vetted NWM, about 3-4 fairly vetted katana samurai 4 naginata attendants, 3 naginata monk cavalry and 1 light cavalry. My army was as follows:
4 katana samurai,
1 matchlock warrior monk,
3 yari cavalry,
1 fire cavalry
1 naginata warrior monk,
1 wako raider,
2 naginata samurai.
So I sent my cavalry round his flank as soon as his infantry started moving in and at the same time as the clash between our infantry occurred I charged his cavalry which was stationed slightly behind his lines. Due to his superior infantry numbers and multiple war-cries, my infantry was doomed. It didn't help that my matchlocks failed to fire on his advancing katana samurai. His cavalry simply held my cavalry while his infantry did the job, although I did come close to wounding his general.
I'm baffled at how to go about defeating an army of this type as naginata monk cavalry can hold even yari cavalry for an extended period of time, 4 whole units of nag attendants can be used as a meat shield or to support cavalry/general and 3+ katana samurai complemented by 4+ naginata warrior monk with warcry is almost impossible to beat. If you subtract from your cavalry force then his cavalry will win and can flank, if you subtract from infantry then his infantry will maul you even faster and if you bring a large skirmishing component (which I never do, nor am skilled enough to use at the moment) then he can soak up damage with 4 naginata attendants.
edit: failed to mention that both our generals entered stand & fight and my guys still routed within 30 seconds of fighting his infantry; such is the power of the war-cry blob. Also, the battle was pretty close; he had about 1500 soldiers, I had about 1300, he killed about 1100 of my troops and I killed 1050 of his.