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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Imperialus" data-source="post: 5320108" data-attributes="member: 893">A note on general military tactics is probably an order here too.  The predominant military formation on both sides remains either a shieldwall, or schiltron populated almost exclusively by peasant levies and militia (or slave soldiers and auxiliaries in the case of the hobgoblins).  Their purpose is not to charge into the fight, indeed their moral would make such an action almost impossible.  Rather they are there to serve as a secure line that the professional soldiers can emerge from and retire behind as necessary.  The professional men at arms, knights and nobles, will charge from the larger shieldwall in small units of anything from a dozen to forty typically consisting of a nobleman or chieften and his personal retinue (or adventurers!) and engage each other on the field between the walls attempting to force the enemy back.  When the groups manage to reach an enemy line unharried (or victorious) they will typically hurl missiles into the mass or give the wall a small push, attempting to kill as many levee soldiers as possible and damage their morale before drawing a response from another professional unit at which point they engage in a fighting retreat back to their own lines where the cycle repeats.  Bowmen are interspersed within the shieldwalls, providing support and making the approach much more dangerous but archery tactics are still far from the level of sophistication seen in battles like Crecy.  The shieldwalls will typically deploy just out of bowshot of each other and archers will focus their attention on the men at arms between the walls.  Most of the professional soldiers will also carry a shortbow, javalin or other missile weapon that they can fire rapidly while on the move into the mass of the enemy shieldwall.All the while, cavalry will attempt to harry the enemy flanks and charge back and forth between the lines serving as a rapid reaction force capable of running down enemy units and stiffening their own lines.Leaders are expected to lead from the front, commanding sorties against the enemy lines which almost inevitably leads to a high mortality rate among them.The key to victory in a battle is to cause an enemy shield wall to break, to goad them into a haphazard charge, or to otherwise disrupt their formation.  When this happens the defensive benefits of the shield wall are lost and the army is typically run off the field harried the entire way by cavalry.  This is why the professional soldiers will focus on hit and run tactics on the enemy line whenever possible since it is hugely damaging to their morale.  The death of an important leader can also cause a wavering of the lines which a good general will be quick to exploit.</blockquote>

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