This has been mentioned before, but a fresh look at the problem of dealing with enemy knight wedges may be of help. Historically, and contrary to Bernard Bachrach's and others contention that Medieval knights were but an auxiliary to the foot, wedging knights were a real headache for commanders who face them. In Italy, the Norman knights rode down the Byzantine/Lombard army at Monte Maggiore in 1041. In Sicily, the Moslem cavalry were ridden through by the Norman knight wedges.

The Norman again proved invincible at Durazzo in 1081, breaking the Byzantine cavalry led by their emperor, Alexius Comnenus. During the 1st Crusade, at Dorylaeum, Antioch and Ascalon, wedges of Norman and Norman trained knights time and again proved effective.

Yet they were not always victorious. At Hastings in 1066, the wedges were ineffective, due to Harold's use of higher ground and a defensive shieldwall formation. The Saxon line bent, but it did not break until the very end. The heaviest wedging knights of all, the Burgundian gendarmes of the late 15th century were seemingly impossible to be successful with, as Charles the Bold had his expensive armies systematically dismantled by Swiss fighting on foot.

Under the MW rules, wedging cavalry are powerful. Fighting two ranks deep against a single rank enemy opponent will usually result in an easy victory. What if your army does not have wedging cavalry and has to face wedging knights? What are your options?

My own Scottish knights are formed into conrois. Granted, they are an easier missile target in this tight formation, as are wedges, but they can now fight with a rank and a half, negating 50% of the wedge advantage. Was this really true? Let's take Medieval French knights. They were rated as the best knights in Europe at the time. They defeated the wedging German knights at Bouvines in 1214. Jagiello's and Witold's Polish cavalry held their own against the Teutonic knight wedges at Grunwald in 1410. Yes conrois works. Even if you are bow-armed cavalry, conrois still allows you to fight with a rank and a half. Remember, it is a closing up of ranks into a tight formation,

So you say you don't have any cavalry to oppose the enemy as you are a close order foot army. In this case, you'll have to emulate the Saxons...or the Swiss. If Saxon tactics appeal to you, i.e. defending, pick your hills, form your units into shieldwall on them and give your foot defend orders any turn you feel they are threatened.

If attacking is more your speed, close on the enemy rapidly and try to get within 1/2 of your normal move distance from his cavalry so your foot can charge him. Try to get your foot frenzied when you charge. If your troops are armed with a long spear, pike or halberd, this will pretty much negate the enemy cavalry charge. Since you will be fighting two rnakes deep normally, unless your unit has axes, you'll be in pretty good shape. It worked for the Swiss!

Say you have a loose order foot army, like Welsh, Slavs or Vikings, then you will need plenty of light terrain that won't bother your troops, but it will drive the cavalry commander crazy. He can't go in after you with his cavalry in wedge - shades of Grunwald and Ely Island in England. He'll have to go in after you with his foot, which you should be able to handle.

In conclusion, wedges are useful, but they are not a super-formation. By studying historical battles you can learn how they were dealt with. Then you can plan your next MW game and see that these tactics can work for you as well.