GMFraser and retreating spearmen.
Tangentially to MOB's championing of George Macdonald Fraser's Flashman
books: GMF is also a historian of some merit. His "The Steel Bonnets" is
highly recommended as a study of the Anglo-Scottish border reivers of the
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. I have found this especially=20
inspiring as a
real world model for a bunch of Westerners stuck out in the East Wilds of
Ralios between hostile trolls and Pagans.
By the way, experience with the War of the Roses Federation (a UK medieval
re-enactment group) suggests:
1 Yes, a lone spearman may need to back up to keep his distance from
a skilled swordsman, but
2 a block or line of polearm types will usually cause the swordsman to=20
keep his distance without having to back up. In this case the swordsman=
=20
needs superior
skill or reckless bravery to get to grips.
Richard Crawley
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