We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition;
And gentlemen in England now-a-bed
Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.....
This was fun, a lot of fun. I played a custom battle on the Agincourt map, details:
Very Hard setting, England: 13,000 florins, France 18,000 florins. As England I had 1 line of Longbows (with stakes deployed...) and 1 line of infantry. French were Heavy Cavalry, Infantry & 4 Xbow units.
I have some screenshots I'll post links to later but the result as super: HEROIC VICTORY - my first on Very Hard setting. The 2 armies were numerically almost a match 2,400 to 2,100 I think but France had at least 8 units of Heavy Cavalry. Remember: there's lots of evidence to suggest that half of the French army never fought at Azincourt but ran away once the vanguard had been massacred...
Here's how my Azincourt went:
1. I deployed, as usual, between the 2 wooded areas on the flanks.
2. Stakes deployed all along the line but the 2 flanks (at the entrance to the wooded areas) did not have stakes & so I deployed additional heavy infantry here to counter an expected cavalry charge.
3. The French army deployed to the rear and marched forward to the opposite end of the open field (this looked really good and at times frightning!!!).
4. The french army moves forward and sends Xbows down the field to fire at my infantry. Cavalry on both flanks spot the lack of stakes and head for my Yoeman archers.
5. My archers take-out the Xbows quickly and my flank infantry ready themselves for the cavalry charges. My flank Longbows move back and into the midle of the English position.
6. The French cavalry on both flanks engage and a big melee ensues (this goes on for most of the battle with charge and counter-charge).
7. The main body of the french infantry reach my front line and charge. The main body of French cavalry does not have enough room to charge my front and hangs back.
8. My Longbows move back and then continue to target the french heavy cavalry. My heavy infantry engage all along the line (this looks really, really cool) and hold the french back.
9. The French continue to assualt flanks and centre (and the centre nearly collapses with one of my infantry units routing) My general unit moves in and plugs the gap.
10. The French start to waver and several cavalry units (under constant longbow fire) either route or retreat.
11. The French Infantry waver and fall back in some disarry. My infantry holds the line and wait for a french rally. This comes with about half the french units trying another charge. This fails.
12. The French army routes completely and is chased by my heavy infantry.
HEROIC VICTORY!!!!
Couple of points to mention: the battle took along time; probably the best infantry battle I've played; The French had 5,000 Florins more than England; it was my first heroic victory at Very Hard level; those deployed stakes (I'll have to check) didn't kill many cavalry but stopped them charging. Finally: my flanks held firm!!!