In my opinion, the problem with the current system is the rule that
blows are randomly selected from the group as a whole. That's
reasonable when the side are roughly equivalent, but otherwise it
leads to some counter-intuitive situations. I'd look to "fix" that
before adding any new characteristics.
I'd suggest something like capping the ratio of blows at something
like 4:1. In the current system, if the ratio of forces is 100:1,
then the ratio of blows is 100:1. If the ratio of blows were capped
to 4:1, you'd probably find that balance between numbers/skill would
swing back to the skill side.
That being said, I kind of like the current system. The one thing I
don't like is that you can't have mixed forces under one noble, i.e.,
if I have a noble with some archers and some pikemen, they all end up
on the same rank. It would be nice if there was a rule that
effectively dropped the archers back a rank.
-- Scott T.