Why didn't they just run around them?

Why didn't they just run around them?

Running around a squad of 250 people? Good plan Usain Bolt.

It's not like a phalanx can instantly turn 180 degrees

It's harder to turn 256 men in a phalanx formation than make 256 lightly armored men run around them

They would have skirmishers, light infantry and cavalry to protect their flanks. Have you never played Rome Total War?

Eventually that's what people did.

Phalanxes under Alexander were backed up by cavalry, skirmishers, light infantry, etc. After the empire collapsed the greek armies began more and more on just the pikes alone.

When Rome came in with a more mobile force, the Greeks lost because they no longer had the cav and skirmishers to back them up.

In fact I have and these bastards are the easiest infantry to beat since they are so slow. Keep the front busy with shitty units you can sacrifice while you run around the flank with cavalry or javelin skirmishers and tear them to pieces.

I could definitely beat Alexander in a Rome Total War multiplayer battle

Yes but most generals would be more intelligent than Total War AI.

In the infallible Rome and Medieval Total War, the pikes just turn around in one second.

It's interesting to know that during these classical battles 90% of soldiers literally had no idea what the fuck is going on

Summs up how infantrymen felt like in all history to be honest.

Dont think it would be that much different in an actual war today desu senpai

They can do a 180 turn. They'd just have to lift their weapons up and turn around. The problem would be attacking from the side because they'd have to physically reposition their formation.

Unless they were square then itd be relatively easy to reposition around while staying stationary.

There wasn't just a block of 250 pikemen. There were dozens of blocks, and they were supported by cavalry and skirmishers. Good luck running around that without dealing with the support first.

Yeah it's not like the formation is 16x16 or something.

The thing that always gets me is the spear itself. A 20ft pike seems like it would be a pain to march around with, easy to break, difficult to repair and even harder to produce on the move, I mean what do you do if you're trying to march through woodland, or in a building, how do you keep it dry etc.?

I'm sure the pikes were collapsible, and they only needed to extend it for combat

You do know cavalry is a thing, right?

How about pinning those cuck hoplites down with light infantry and skirmishers, then bombard the shit out of the square cuckold with heavy catapults?

Also, clustershit on fire would be the perfect ammo for the catapults.

They were stretched across the battlefield and supported. They destroyed any chance of combating them head on since they were a wall of spears shoving. They would carve through your formation, cleaving your line in two or simply be a meat grinder while they were supported on their flanks. You had to throw equal amounts of phalanx troops at them, or simply out last their battle determination with superior numbers of troops as the romans did historically.

2meta2fast

shut the fuck up you absolute retard

>simply out last their battle determination with superior numbers of troops as the romans did historically.

Romans were numerically inferior by a significant margin in both Cynoscephalae and Pyda.

They won because they were rugged enough to hold the phalanx dead on and also mobile and aggressive enough to outmanouver them while doing it.

we have radios and computers dude

You're that skirmish cuck guy from the line infantry thread, aren't you? Please just go.

Basically what I said here.

They forgot about the catapults though. Would have removed that fancy cuckold square in 15 mins with way less casualties.

>catapults
>yeah its pretty easy to lug these things around

I really fucking hate ironic stupid question threads.
Veeky Forums was a goddamn mistake

It's two pieces, joined by a metal tube in the middle.

Go away skrimishcuck.

Source?

Source?

They can refuse their flank, if they are well drilled enough to hold formation like that they can wheel round to face the threat to their sides or rear, if not they can always put their pikes/spears up and turn in place

Pikes are not easy to break at all and neither are spears.

It's written somewhere in the Alexander book by Fox.

YOU AGAIN

they'd have to be, they'd be too brittle

How Is Phalanx Real HaHa Dude Just Run Around Them Just Walk Away.

I like this


Hahahahahahahaha How The Fuck Are Phalanx Tactics Real Hahahaha Nigga Just Walk Around From The Flanks Like Nigga Rally Your Cavalry Haha

>Walk past the cuck's pikes
>Now you're so close they can't stab you anymore

Why didn't the Romans think of this?

have fun trying to get closer to the literal wall of spears

Steps into haft zone well beyond spear heads. Nothing personal Phalanx

I still can't understand how archery didn't make infantry formations obsolete

>stand well out of range of spears
>shower enemies with arrows
>repeat until a) they retreat or b) they're all dead
>if they advance, retreat to maintain range and keep firing

because then the enemy would just send in his cavalry
so you need some form of protection like infantry
and you;d need them to be organized otherwise the enemy formation would tear them to pieces
besides, fighting your enemies up close and personal is more honourable then cowardly showering them with pointy sticks

Because if your army is all archers to counter their infantry the enemy will wise up and bring cavalry to run down your squishy archers

You are the most pathetic poster on this board

All these slow moving compact cuckold formations are massively vulnerable to 'artillery' (be it arrows, javelins, catapults, stones or whatever), so in order to simply exist and don't get eradicated in 10 mins by a band of 80 year old grannies with bow and on horse, they need to have a fuckton of support and auxiliary units whose only purpose is, essentially, to protect the cuckold. It's a extremely inefficient use of resources that rests upon the sole idea that the enemy will be dumb as a rock and play by hoplicuck rules and be diligently stabbed and bbq'd by le happy long spear holding hoplicuck.

If you kill or otherwise impede those auxiliary units from defending them, the granmas will take care of the cuckold.

We also have radio jammers and all kinds of electronic warfare.

Why do you think Ukrainian armed forces have use runners so often?

The flanks were protected by elite hoplites who could maneuver better.

Because ukranian radios don't need to be jammed, you can just tune in to the frequency and write what they say down.

Precisely

if an army fights against a force not composed of incompetent akbars it´s communications abilities will be quite limited.

in addition to this your assuming that the information the leaders are receiving are being relayed down the line to your average soldier, and not just to the officers and NCO's