Bracing the battle line

Hi, I've been reading these forums ever since MTW came out really but never really felt the need to post. But today, I noticed something very strange that I thought might be worth figuring out.

As many of you know, when a company of phalanx-type spearmen is in phalanx position, its almost impossible for friendly units to manage to pass through (enemy cavalry however of course find the spearmens attempts to stop them laughable at some times it seems as they leap over them) and in order to allow your men to pass freely you have to disengage the phalanx formation.

Now for the part where it gets odd. I was playing a game as Carthage (just so you know I'm currently using RTR 4.1) and had invaded the Iberian mainland in order to secure my prospering colonies along the southern shores. At first I was opposed by only mere peasants and the occasional skirmisher unit as I swept through their lands. However when my army reached Numantia, their capital, and last and final stronghold, I was delighted to find a rather impressive army of their scutarri as well as their javelin cavalry, whose name escapes me at the moment, along with the remnants of the small bands that had managed to escape my ever marching horde.

So I lay seige to them, and since they have only wooden walls, I array four rams to provide multiple breaches so as to use my usual wooden wall strategy. As per the usual, one attacks the wall to the left of the gate, one takes the gate itself, the other goes to the right of the gate, and the last goes for the next section of wall to the right.

As this goes on my archers and skirmishers pepper the enemy as they prove their superior intellect by running back and forth in range of my missles in order to deplete my ammo by catching them with their bodies until they are exhausted or dead ~:handball: . As the walls are broken in, i send my sword bearing infantry to the gate and have the wait outside it. The cavalry proceed to the left wall breach and also await further orders. At that point, I move my phalanx troops to the farthest breach and turn off their phalanx ability in preperation of the coming move. Then, as a final precaution, I place my as yet unused skirmisher group along the breach next to the gate.

Quickly, i send in my two sacred band and deploy them stacked on top of one another in a slim line so that one end of their formation touches the wall, and the other a random building's fence that resided in the fortification. The enemy, seeing me bringing my men into their grasp, all make a mad charge into the narrow corridor my sacred bands are awaiting. As the enemy approach I initiate their phalanx formation and realize I'd forgotten my Libyan Spearmen who were still waiting by the breach. Well I quick grabbed them and deployed them so that theyre spears were only just barely pressed against the backs of their sacred band comrades.

What then occured was bewildering. The Sacred Band, having the Libyan Spearmen behind them, were completely immovable. The Libyans spears kept the enemy from even causing the slightest shift in their attempts to break the formation and they were beginning to be slaughtered at an unusual rate. As they all made their way into the corridor of death, my infantry rushed through the gate and assembled so as to block their only escape, and then they charged directly into the rear of the preoccupied enemy forces. At the same moment, my cavalry stormed through the left breach and made a bee line for the now slowly encroaching enemy missle units that had not joined the fatal charge. The enemy infantry routed upon contact from the rear and evaporated in no time. After that it was a simple mop up operation. Yet I couldnt get over how the Sacred Band had each managed over 300+ kills in so short a time. Normally they shuffle to the side or the cavalry leap into their midsts or even they get pushed back somewhat, but with the Libyans holding them there, they were a veritable stone wall. Has anybody else encountered this? ~:confused:

Sounds like Stalingrad...

"NOT ONE STEP BACKWARDS COMRADES!"
~D

:laugh4:

I guess this has to be tested...

My phalanxs never had trouble getting my own me past it, and I thought this was unrealistic, since how could your own men run right through the spear wall and go behind the line without loseing some men on accident?!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kraxis

I guess this has to be tested...

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Someone else beat you to this. Any phalanx unit on top of another actually works like a phalanx and becom inpenetrable from the front. I've also noticed this too. I did'nt know that any unit you stack in with a phalanx makes them inpenetrable from the front but at least this way they work like there suppose to

Quote:

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Originally Posted by oaty

Someone else beat you to this. Any phalanx unit on top of another actually works like a phalanx and becom inpenetrable from the front. I've also noticed this too. I did'nt know that any unit you stack in with a phalanx makes them inpenetrable from the front but at least this way they work like there suppose to

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Oh, I didn't notice first time around that he put them on top of each other. Though they were next to each other... So naturally I thought it was rather wierd that spears in their backs made them impenetrable.

Yea the whole stacking of two phalanxes is one of my preferred little phalanx tricks, but the thing is that I was trying to move up a third set, but they didnt quite make it in time, so they had to set up just behind them. Due to the phalanxes innate ability to be rather difficult to manuevuer through from the front, it held the front two in place, who were formidable enough on their own. While the third spearmen didnt make any kills, i did notice that any cavalry that attempted the little jump manuevuer were actually pushed by the rear spearmen back into the ranks of the two stacked ones, who dispatched it rather quickly.

The best part is, that because of the tide of men that was coming in, those few troops that had been smashed on my spears and were attempting to rout were actually being pushed back from where they were attempting to flee!