2 militia vs an 8 star heavy calvary general

[the great zolo]

Took me 4 tries but I finally beat this nuisance that has been in my territory for a while, against what I feel were rather bad odds. This battle was on Hard difficulty.

The teams comprised of;

Me (Milan):
1 full town militia unit(no exp, or upgrades)
1 full militia crossbow unit (general, 1 star, 1 exp, no upgrades)

Enemy (Sicily)
1 full Mailed Knights (general, 8 stars, 2 exp, no upgrades)

The map was in a venice open plain, I started half-way up a hill, and the enemy started on top of this hill. The placements look similar too;

Hill Top ----- HC --------
-------------------------
Hill Side -----TM------CM

HC = enemy calvary
TM = my town militia
CM = my crossbows

We started pretty vlose together, almost in arrow range, so I stood my ground with the crossbowmen far enough to the side that the calvary should charge the militia units first. As they marched towards me i waited with the militia selected. At first sight of the calvary going from a march to a charge, I immediately sent the militia running backwards down the hill. Meanwhile the crossbows are already working on the knights knocking them out ~1-2 per direct volley.

When the charge reach my militia it only hit 4-6 of the units instead of destroying the entire group, I then charged the knights with full force to hold them in place while my bows hit them from behind. I took half they're horse down before they retreated to the top of the hill.

Trying to bring my militia back up to lure the charge again, the horse turned right around and charged. This time it hit harder and killed 10-15 units, but by now I had them under 10 horses, and thats when they're general fell and they broke. I managed to bring them to 3 as they routed before they gave up.

Now I march for Naples.

[HANDsolo]

I hope you plan to siege Naples with a little more than a decimated town militia unit and a unit of militia crossbowmen

[Sokar Rostau]

I have a standard Venetian patrol that has yet to be defeated based on those awesome crossbows. Three Militia Crossbows, one Militia Spearmen, two Heavy Cavalry.

Take the crossbows off Fire at Will, but leave on Skirmish and have them target the General. Leave the Spearmen in the middle behind the crossbows. Flank with the cavalry. Nine times out of ten the enemy General will charge the crossbows who just move out of the way. I charge the enemy infantry and archers from either behind or the sides then withdraw and charge the infantry which is usually headed straight for the lone unit of Spearmen... they cop all of my cavalry from behind. By the time the infantry and archers have all been destroyed, or routed, the crossbows are usually on the far side of the map with one unit closely pursued by the two or three units left in the General's Bodyguard. By this time my cavalry has cleaned up all the other enemy routers and I set everyone to chase the General who doesn't live long.

Yes, I know Spearmen are anti-Cav, but they take more casualties engaging the General's Bodyguard than the skirmishing Crossbows do so my army can afford to go on longer patrols before needing resupply.

[Armoured_Crusader]

If your marching for Naples, don't forget to reinforce your damaged unit(s)!