Medieval Housecarls generally had one main battle tactic, the dreaded shield wall. Since the English were very offensive, they only used one main tactic. The shield wall was basically a wall made of warriors lined up together with their shields locked.This tactic would usually only be used for a few hours, then they resorted to a simple, but devastating charge. The Housecarls were usually the men in the front because they were heavily armored, and were the most expeirenced. Although this was a crude style of warfare, it was the only known at that time.

At the Battle of Hastings, however, William developed two new battletactics that were imperative for him to win the battle. The first one was,a fake retreat. William faked a retreat drawing some of the housecarls out of the shield wall, his knights then cut them down. This affected the outcome of the battle greatly. William also made his archers fire over instead of at the shield wall.This killed many of the weaker fyrd men who were in the back. Although William discovered both of these tactics by accident, they proved to be very affective throughout the battle.