Slitherine

how can knights break off other knights

I think I am right in saving that mounted troops do not break off from each other at all. Mounted troops will break off from foot units or a combination of foot and mounted units.

im playing the battle of Tinchebrai and my knights broke off after the first round of melee against his knights????

Mounted should try to break off if at least half their opponents in combat are steady foot. I think the current version doesn't consider foot disordered by terrainas unsteady for this purpose although it should.

Chris

I suspect there was an infantry involved somewhere (although it's possible that there may be a bug and the infantry was in an adjacent hex fighting another enemy rather than in direct combat with the cavalry, but I haven't tested this). It's worth remembering this rule - sometimes it's best not to add infantry to a cavalry vs cavalry combat, even at good odds, as it gives the enemy cavalry a chance to break off and escape.

Also on cavalry, according TheGrayMouser: "as far as I recall, as long as they are in contact with at least one STEADY enemy infantry BG, they will break off". So if the infantry are disrupted or fragmented the cavalry will not break off.