Phalanxes as depicted in "Alexander"

[Maion Maroneios]

Remember though, that in reality only front ranks of archers may fire with any degree of accuracy. Unlike RTW, where line of sight doesn`t matter, and you may have whole legions of archers pounding on a single unit.

While that it true, let us not forget that archers fired in a sort of parabolic curve, with the arrows finally reaching their destination forming a near 0 degree withe the vertical line most times. Especially when they fired their arrows from afar. So, when they start falling, their speed increases rapidly, as does their momentum. In the end, during the collision with the enemy ranks, while the force with which the arrows hit them (F=dp/dt for those who know) is not extremely great (due to the small mass of each arrow), their pressure is (P=F/A, where A is the area of the arrowhead) far, far greater. You see, while the force applied by the arrows isn't big, the area of the arrowhead is extremely small and as such it pierces human flesh that cannot withstand such great pressure.

Linothorax is useless against arrows (or anything else pointy). It helps to protect your body against blows. A Hoplites does not realy need a cuirass or any other decent body armour because this part of his body would be protected by his huge shield. A good hemlet and greaves were much more important. On the other hand he is suffering from blows due to the pushing of the lines, both from the front and from the back. Here linothorax is well suited, in fact even better suited than metal, to protect him.

I'm sorry to tell you that konny, but what you just said about linothorax is BS. Mayor BS. It wasn't invented because it helped against blows, as they - the Greeks - had cuirasses and breastplates for that job, a job in which they where both better than a linothorax. It was invented because of it's cheaper production (just a few metal pieces and lots of cloth stripped together) and easier usage (they didn't suffocate like with a breastplate, plus it was lighter). But most of all, it was used to counter the growing usage of missile units. You see, many strips of leather put together with metal reinforcements, does indeed protect you a lot better against arrows. They have even tried it with modern bows (aka stronger ones) and they found out it indeed helped (though it may have caused minor wounds).

Maion