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[sluissa]

Horseback with swords takes some getting used to. There is knack to the timing and you just have to practice. Once you get it down, more often than not, you'll hit.

[Tellemurius]

Hell once i figured it out, hit and run

[amjh]

It can't be about timing, I can't hit even when both me and the enemy are standing still and he's next to my horse.

[Rakonas]

It can't be about timing, I can't hit even when both me and the enemy are standing still and he's next to my horse.

Well yeah, it's not easy to do that either. If you're using a relatively short sword you'll probably find it impossible to do that, as the enemies are, essentially, ducking your swings.

[Karlito]

It's not good to have your horse stand still in the middle of a battle. You can really only hit enemies in a certain sweet spot, if they're too far in front or behind you they'll be able to cut down your mount and you won't be able to retaliate. If you just keep on riding right through them and swinging your sword, however, they won't be able to retaliate.

[Sonlirain]

I must say i really got to like Mauls now.

Those sins against balance... not only they go through blocks and parries but they also:

Do blunt damage that ignores half of the armour.
Wound instead of killing.
Do ridiculous ammounts of damage.
Are VERY cheap (You can buy a heavy mallet/maul for as much as 1k denars and even less if you skip the prefix).

The only downsides to those things would be their relatively short reach and being unbalanced but with enough Athletics/2H skill you can just run to someone and whack him in the head with it most likely oneshotting him regardless of armor and tier since it will probably do over 60 damage or more if you invest heavily into power strike.

Also floris adds another warhammer that has reach compearable to 2h swords making it pretty much the best weapon for fighting... pretty much everything that's not mounted with a lance or forcing you to carry a shield like archers (you do have a secondary weapon and a shield don't you?) and even then you have a good chance of killing the horse with one blow and killing the rider with a followup swing if you dodge the lance.

[EuchreJack]

I think many of the mods feature upgraded hammers.  I've seen Morningstars, Iron Maces, etc.

[Osmosis Jones]

How does melee with horses work? I can never reach the enemies when I try to hit, and my horse stops completely if it ever even touches an enemy.

I've found a rather consistent method that works for me against infantry and stationary horsemen;

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

(Using a Heavy one handed battle axe) I line up my attack so that I pass maybe a half a meter to the left of a target, raise my axe over my right shoulder (so that it swings right to left in front of me) and release the swing about half a second before I charge past the enemy while I look at them.

You get that little extra bit of reach because its the side that actually holds the weapon, and it makes all the difference. Just keep thundering past the edges of the enemy squads, whittling the enemy down. I generally 1 hit KO whatever I hit with that strike, short of  maybe a lord in full plate, and it's particularly good for clearing out the archers while my knights smash the main body of solidiers.

[Catastrophic lolcats]

I still love horseback archery, although it's possibly takes the most amount of skill and leveling dedication. I also find it much better to use horse archery in an army that itself isn't all that focused on horsemen. Having a shield-wall of Nords or a pike-wall of Rhodoks distracting the enemy so I can speed around shooting off arrows at archers or men with their shield down. Extremely easy way to play the early game if you use peasants as bait, good way to level up companions in horseback archery as well. 
Horseback throwing is also fairly fun albeit not quite as effective. Just not enough of that thrown ammunition to make it useful most of the time and power throw takes a little bit too much dedication to get good when you could be going for power draw. Bows are OP. 

End game is usually me with a masterwork two-handed sword, great armour and a masterwork bow. With good armour you can generally just rely on that rather than a shield and have fun sniping enemies off the wall of sieges or charging up yourself and slaying with your deathstick.

[sluissa]

I usually love horseback archery, but once I actually start fighting armies it tends to stop being quite as useful. More often than not armies have decent ranged folk as well, and they're much more accurate on foot, and a heavy crossbow bolt, or a well aimed arrow have a good chance of knocking you down in only one or two hits.

Knights are also exceedingly hard to hit where it hurts them any reasonable amount. Shields are almost invincible against arrows unless you're persistant and fire 30 of them into a single guy or get lucky/aim for their legs.

Around this point I usually give up on archery and just switch to a sword/polearm mix and just pile on the heaviest armor I can find.

[dogstile]

Power throw is brilliant, dedicate yourself to fighting like a huscarl and do so in a line. Before the horsemen even get to you the mounts they have will be killed by thrown axes that do a ridiculous amount of damage.

[Blargityblarg]

Throwing axes are just great in every way. You can kill horses, keep back an aggressive spear or 2h axe, or just peg some poor sucker in the back of the head for massive damage. Sometimes in online arena mode, I go as a naked guy with two or three stacks of throwing axes.

[thegoatgod_pan]

I love my elite balanced saber for cavalry combat. I find the trick is to gallop, lean with the mouse and slash just as you are about to pass your target. You dont see the blade strike but you hear it. Works great on riders on slower horses too. Just dont charge in the middle of a fight, always run the perimeter.

[Osmosis Jones]

So, uhhh, I just killed 500+ guys in a pitched battle with my mere 86 men, and sent an entire Vaegir invasion force running like little girls. Now, I have to repeat the trick with 72 men, holding a castle against 700 Rhodoks... and I love it!

It's hard, sure; you have to stay healthy enough that you can actually fight each battle, yet at the same time get involved enough to hold the line against the endless waves of attackers. Further, there's a real tenseness as you're cowering behind the battlements, watching as your men slowly get picked off, as enemy after enemy scales the ladder, while you and your troops slowly get drenched in blood. Finally, there's nothing like the prospect of having to restart over half an hour of solid fighting to give your death weight.

Blend it all together though, and it's one of the most visceral gaming experiences ever.

[Paul]

Death has even more weight if you don't load a save game after it. Losing all your troops, the castle you're defending, some money, an item from your inventory, being imprisoned for a few days, having to go around looking for your companions again, etc. It's painful, but if you reload every time you lose that means you'll always win - and your side will sweep across the map no matter what.

Plus pulling off a crazy victory against all odds has more meaning if you do it on the first time or else rebuild your entire army.