JMRC
05-04-2007, 12:17
Hi,
after putting EB working with BI, I made some experiences in the Custom Battles and now I have some doubts to share with you and get some hints/info:
- I made most Sweboz units able to make shielwall (I chose units with at least a shield of 4)
- I made the Frankamannoz able to make schiltrom (they have spears and a weak shield 2)
In the costum battles, I put Prodromoi heavy cavalry against a shieldwall and a schiltrom. They went for the schiltrom (weaker infantry) but rounded it several times before charging. The schiltrom held firm and the cavalty kept disengaging and charging again until they found the odds too low to charge again and just loitered around, now reduced to 1/4 of their cavalrymen.
In another custom battle I put the IA in control of the same Sweboz as above and I used the Prodromoi and a unit of archers to force the IA to use the shieldwall. It didn't :-(
but the Frankamannoz did use the schiltrom formation when the Prodromoi aproached them :-)
In yet another custom battle I put 20 shieldwall-capable units against 20 units of archers. I put 15 units in the shieldwall formation and the others in the standard formation. The archers concentrated their fire in the units not in shieldwall who nearly got massacred before I put them in shieldwall. This time the archers moved closer to the formations and fired at close range. The shieldwalls held firm until some of the archers moved to the rear side of my battleline, forcing me to break the formation and charge them. The archers were too close to avoid and were massacred.
My next test will be to change sides and hope that the Sweboz use the shieldwalls to defend against the archers. I'll edit the results later ;-)
Now, my doubts are:
1. In the timeframe covered by EB it is acceptable to have units using the schiltrom formation? Although the "real" schiltrom is used by pikemen in defensive formation in later periods, I think that any "real life" unit too weak to face an overwhelming attack from several sides will try to make a kind of "schiltrom", in order to increase its chances of survival.
2. If you accept question 1, then which units should be able to make schiltrom? I reckon that only the "barbarian" factions should use them, because roman and hellenistic factions relied on disciplined formations. In this case, I believe that only barbarian units with Discipline "low" or "normal" and Training "untrained" or "trained" should make schiltrom, because the others should be better used in the shieldwall.
3. Some units in EB have described that they can perform Shieldwall, but in fact any unit can perform shieldwall or schiltrom. So, where this description came from? Most hoplites who don't use the phalanx formation have this description and a few Sweboz too (I didn't check all units).
Thanks for your comments on this.
after putting EB working with BI, I made some experiences in the Custom Battles and now I have some doubts to share with you and get some hints/info:
- I made most Sweboz units able to make shielwall (I chose units with at least a shield of 4)
- I made the Frankamannoz able to make schiltrom (they have spears and a weak shield 2)
In the costum battles, I put Prodromoi heavy cavalry against a shieldwall and a schiltrom. They went for the schiltrom (weaker infantry) but rounded it several times before charging. The schiltrom held firm and the cavalty kept disengaging and charging again until they found the odds too low to charge again and just loitered around, now reduced to 1/4 of their cavalrymen.
In another custom battle I put the IA in control of the same Sweboz as above and I used the Prodromoi and a unit of archers to force the IA to use the shieldwall. It didn't :-(
but the Frankamannoz did use the schiltrom formation when the Prodromoi aproached them :-)
In yet another custom battle I put 20 shieldwall-capable units against 20 units of archers. I put 15 units in the shieldwall formation and the others in the standard formation. The archers concentrated their fire in the units not in shieldwall who nearly got massacred before I put them in shieldwall. This time the archers moved closer to the formations and fired at close range. The shieldwalls held firm until some of the archers moved to the rear side of my battleline, forcing me to break the formation and charge them. The archers were too close to avoid and were massacred.
My next test will be to change sides and hope that the Sweboz use the shieldwalls to defend against the archers. I'll edit the results later ;-)
Now, my doubts are:
1. In the timeframe covered by EB it is acceptable to have units using the schiltrom formation? Although the "real" schiltrom is used by pikemen in defensive formation in later periods, I think that any "real life" unit too weak to face an overwhelming attack from several sides will try to make a kind of "schiltrom", in order to increase its chances of survival.
2. If you accept question 1, then which units should be able to make schiltrom? I reckon that only the "barbarian" factions should use them, because roman and hellenistic factions relied on disciplined formations. In this case, I believe that only barbarian units with Discipline "low" or "normal" and Training "untrained" or "trained" should make schiltrom, because the others should be better used in the shieldwall.
3. Some units in EB have described that they can perform Shieldwall, but in fact any unit can perform shieldwall or schiltrom. So, where this description came from? Most hoplites who don't use the phalanx formation have this description and a few Sweboz too (I didn't check all units).
Thanks for your comments on this.