Quote Originally Posted by Hannibal Khan the Great View Post
Well, if the troops were used mostly in melee anyway, they would stand and fight, but for example Akontistai would retreat. They are simply too light for melee.
Oh, light skirmishers are a different matter. They actually didn't have a 'formation' like heavier infantry. They didn't attack as a tightly packed unit, but as a cloud of individuals just doing their own thing, throwing missiles whenever they saw a target within range.

Closely packed heavier infantry needed to use discipline to avoid jostling and getting in each other's way - they needed to loose their missiles only on an officer's order, not whenever they felt like it.