How does phalanx pikes stop arrows?

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Originally Posted by Watchman

The better-equipped formations presumably would have been armoured to some degree at least. Don't know if that was the norm though, and it would probably not strictly speaking have been necessary either - "shieldwall" infantry with big-ass shields tended to be fairly arrow-proof even without armour.

I understand wickerwork shields are a good way to get a perfectly serviceable arrow-stopper with a good weight-to-coverage ratio, although how well they stand up to close combat seems to be somewhat unclear.

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i imagine a bigger sword, an axe, or a falx would go through it (and likely the guy behind it) with no problem

But that goes for most shields anyway...

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Originally Posted by Watchman

But that goes for most shields anyway...

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:laugh4: true, but say, a bronze shield would stand greater chance of stopping the blow. Other shields like the scutum or hoplon could at least stop a regular sword or a spear, but i can't see a wicker shield holding a strong hit from a good quality sword or spear.
Honestly, that thing looks like a strong wind would take it apart ~D

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Originally Posted by MarcusAureliusAntoninus

Magic.

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omg are you serious?!

who ever thought of making shields from wicker...??? :(

The Persians for one. Seemed to work pretty well for its primary purpose.

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Originally Posted by Watchman

The Persians for one. Seemed to work pretty well for its primary purpose.

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Yeah, cheap, light and arrow resistant.

And had the nasty effect of entangling thrusting blows from spears and swords...


Cheers...

I think one of the main reasons wicker is used is because any kind of metal was like precious metal to the peasants and high quality lumber is in short supply in the desert. A tangled screen of reeds will stop low velocity arrows and that's better than no shield. (Plus wicker doesn't weight you down and you can be more mobile.)

^ wicker shields reminds me of paper armor

Which worked pretty well.

Wasn't paper armor that armor made of 10X folded paper wich was really tough??

Cheers...

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Originally Posted by mAIOR

Wasn't paper armor that armor made of 10X folded paper wich was really tough??

Cheers...

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Kind of like linen armor then, but less flexible.

You'd have to watch out for those nasty fire arrows though :laugh4:

They weted the armor to make it even stronger and resilient to fire...


Cheers...

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Originally Posted by mAIOR

They weted the armor to make it even stronger and resilient to fire...


Cheers...

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Unless they did it during the battle, it wouldn't be of much use.
Since paper has the bad habit of drying...

Actually, they used it mostly on swampy/river side areas so it retty much got wet just by being exposed to the environment.
And when they made the armor they weted it with salty water. Also, when it rained it was better than iron armor as it didn't rust. It was used effectivelly by archers mostly as it provided good protection at a low weight.


Cheers...

lacquer would've made it fireproof