First of all, I am not biased toward any faction. My character is playing Nords now and will try the Swadians next. I played an open field battle today with Nord Huscarls, Nord Veterans, and some Nord Veteran Archers against a Swadian Knight charge.
AI good; Battle Speed fast; Battle Size 100; horse_charge_damage_multiplier edited to 4 instead of 1. Here is how it went:
When I saw the Swadians march over the hill I got scared because half of them were Swadian Knights, followed by Swadian Crossbowmen and Infantry, and King Harlaus was leading. My companions ( Klethi, Ymira, Matheld, and DeShavi ) dismounted and archery stood behind, too close unfortunately.
It was smart for King Harlaus to F6 his whole army because he could then charge everyone at the right distance, which he did. With the higher horse_charge_damage_multiplier those Swadian Knights took 3-4 Nord Huscarls / Veterans down each. And let me tell you, when they reached my archers they raped them. I thought all was lost!
Sadly, it would have been smarter for me to stand my men in the river. My Huscarls and Veterans, however, were just getting started. They got back up and began taking down those horses. By then, I was unaware of this activity because I was frantically using my horse_charge_damage_multiplier to charge down any and all Swadians on foot.
I was utterly shocked when I turned around and saw that nearly all of the Swadian Knights were down / unhorsed! I saw King Harlaus and aimed my throwing axe at his head but one of my Huscarls got him first and I ended up hitting him instead. He just shrugged it off and kept fighting.
After that came a series of reinforcements, more Swadian Knightrs and Crossbowmen, more reinforcements. And finally a win.
Nord Huscarls ( 1 killed, 17 wounded ); I didn't pay attention to the Swadian Knights' killed / wounded.
Currently, I have King Harlaus shining my men's saddles.