Quote Originally Posted by antisocialmunky View Post
Correct me because I'm probably wrong but the Macedonians had a fairly professional army after the reforms of Phillip to the late Hellenistic Period in Macedonia didn't they? Professional as in uniformly trained, cosntantly standing, and state equipped.
This is not fully true. In the hellenistic age I would compare Macedonian system to the system used by modern states that use draft. Macedonian draft age was from 15 till 55, though usually only those over 20 were drafted. From 15 till 20-25 they had to take part in training organised in the cites where at first they trained physically and later also formation fighting. At some point they were given weapons, but it is not sure if they were given everything or just sarissa and shield. Those weapons were stored in armouries in major cities that served as points were drafted men gathered. It seems that there were four such cities and that either 1/4 or 3/4 of the total was drafted each year. If enemy threatened lands of Kingdom full draft was sometimes ordered, like before Kynoskefalai.

It seems that in this period macedonian infantry lacked "full army" training that made Philip II and Alexander's army such a formindable force. This made phalanx vulnerable to fractures like in the battle at Pydna where various speirai advanced and retreated separately, thus opening gaps used by Romans. For example Agema pushed so deep into roman formation that they become completely separated and surrounded.