Fairly New to EB - Some questions

[anubis88]

Well as i see it, we think of battles in a TW way; It's to "mathematic" for being IRL.
Try putting yourself in the skin of a levy spearmen; the enemy charges, half of the guys you talked to 30 minutes ago are dead, the guys on Horses around you are completly filled with metal, they are 1 meter taller then you; there's screaming everywhere, horses are passing you on both sides, you try to stab one but change your mind because you see one on your left, you turn around to meet him but get stabbed in the back by another one :). I would rout from this at the start of my tale :)

Perhaps to imaginary i don't know, but imagine how hard it must've been thinking straight if your not used to fight in wars, and face such a calamity... I myself believe that it may very well happen that 40 Sarmatian Knights defeat in such way 160 levy spearmen.

[WinsingtonIII]

I wasn't specifically talking about the levy hoplites, I think they should easily defeat the levies, in fact, if they're untrained levies, they should probably rout on impact or even before (facing down a cavalry charge must be terrifying).

I was talking more about how elite cataphracts in general can wade around in non-levy spear formations for a while before dying. But, I think it's probably necessary to give them that high of a defense because they should be able to hold very well in melee against cavalry for instance. I personally try to roleplay and not let even my super-heavy cavalry get bogged down in prolonged melees with higher level spear units because I find it a bit ahistorical, so I don't think it's really much of an issue.