Hoplitai too weak ?

[Watchman]

You want a counter-example? Chaeronia.

...where the potent Macedonian and Thessalian cavalry was present in force on the wings shielding them from encirclement.

Appeal rejected. We're talking of a straight infantry-infantry fight here, remember ?

Issus was due to the terrain, and this is only one goddamn example.

Which does nothing to change the fact the pikemen were promptly in trouble when their normally mutually supporting battleline became disjointed and ceased to be so, allowing dedicated close-combat troops to infiltrate into the flanks of individual syntagmas. A theme, we may note, which keeps repeating itself with a downright depressing regularity whenever phalangites advanced on more mobile infantry.

wait... so why couldn't the phalangitai deploy thin too??? an 8 line depth would double the syntagma front length and project the same amount of lowered pikes no???

*shrug* 16 x 16 was their SOP, far as I know. Not entirely sure of the reasons behind it - I'd have to go read up and don't feel like it ATM - but I'm under the impression they normally didn't stray from the basic deployement pattern. They certainly *could*, in principle at least, but *would* they ?