of english and french army composition

[snuggans]

do the english have any advantage over the french army?
on heavy cavalry, the gendarmes are pretty much the same as english knights. the english knights have 1 point more on defense but as we all know the gendarmes have a better type of armor and also the trait 'very well armoured' and better stamina. kept testing them in custom battle, they were pretty even. one time the only ones left were the two captains.

on infantry, they have dismounted chivalric knights which are pretty much a copy of armoured swordsmen, save maybe -1 on attack? didnt check, but hardly any differences. the french also have the luxury of pikemen which the english do not.

for ranged, not only do the french have aventuriers, but dismounted archers and scots guard, AND horse archers. even if the english retinue longbowmen were to achieve a very close victory over scots guard, the variety of french ranged units makes up for it. both armies have arquebuisers.

am i missing something here? maybe some of the units ive mentioned are not available in the french campaign? this is strictly about army composition and not their starting positions on the campaign map, which i understand the english have it easier.

[normanknight]

I agree the french have alot more units than the english and bascliy match everything the english have but the difference is the english get them first HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.........(cough) im mean most french units are built in the late stages and by that time are out dated for example scots guard come when most people have muskets and so on.

[mercja]

Yes the French lack severely in early units, so if you are playing the English as I am then wipe them out early. They are rather easy to defeat.

[ruberkaiser]

I could say the same for the english.

[JaM]

Longbow+Bill combo can defeat any French army... just add few knights and use standard English tactics - Logbows in front with stakes deployed, Billmens behind . Wait for french charge, pepper them with arrows and when they are in stakes counterattack them with Bilmens and Longbowmens + you can outflank them with Knights... that way you will destroy any French army...

[Rashka]

But I dont like to make my bowman fight toe to toe..it just feels wrong hehe...plus that's what Militia Spearmen are for.

[JaM]

But htey did that historically. Yeoman Longbowman were fighting as fist line infantry. Yeoman fight that way, they waited for enemy knights to come, and attacked them toe to toe after they decimated them enough and had 2:1 advantage. They were not killing them because you cant get any money for killed french nobleman, and randsom was the main reason why they were fighting. Some of Yeomans got very rich that way...