I just participated in the Battle of Uzgha against the Wolves. It was a walled desert town with an open gate. Tickets started as 1400:500 approx.
5 of us formed a shield wall in the gate. Once the shield wall bonus took hold (up to +6), not even hammers could really damage it. Pole arms and hammers bounced off and we took very little damage from arrows. With archers behind us, the attackers paid very dearly for awhile. The attackers fell in droves. The only missing element was spears behind us to keep the attackers at bay. Again too many singletons sallied forth and lost tickets but the battle ended with about 500:0. So it was a solid effort, costing the attackers twice as many casualties.