Yep, I've been doing some more reading in the old Great Battles of Hannibal, Alexander and Julius Caesar series. I just came across the following in Hannibal. It was set up so that when units approached a phalanx and initiated combat the attacker was handicapped for the initial combat. On subsequent turns of combat after they were faced up, they did not incur a penalty.
Quoting from the game's help:
"In any shock resolution in which a non-phalanx unit moves and shock attacks a phalanx (PH) frontally, the unit going against a PH will have its effectiveness drastically reduced. This applies only to moving attacks, not to attacks in which the attacking unit started adjacent to the phalanx unit and stayed in that hex to shock. It does not apply to flank/rear attacks, nor to when all of the attacking units are also PH's.
Design Note: This reflects the remarkable defensive capabilities that this wall of sarissa (16 to 18 foot long spears) had, especially against the initial charge by the enemy. Once inside the sarissa, the attackers stood a better chance of cracking the phalanx. The reduced effect for HI reflects the fact that they were spear-armed, too."
This is the effect I think we are lacking in RTW demo. I was also reading through the battle descriptions (history of what happened.) In most cases the phalanx was clearly more powerful and turned or drove back facing units, but in the losses it was outflanked. It was flanking that was beating them, not the face-to-face combat.
I also remember reading about various weak phalanx formed by rebelling slaves, and weak powers in the past--not necessarily facing Romans. They performed very poorly, but that is not much of a surprise and hardly a reflection of the basic strength or weakness of any unit.
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