They've had several centuries to change, Alex. In the real world, it was highly unusual for any military system to last that long. And I'm not talking about technology improvements, either, just the fact that a culture's art of war is based on a whole lot of things -- society, politics, who your enemies are, who your friends are, existence or non-existence of a warrior class, and so forth, and nobody maintains all those factors the same over the centuries.
Peloria's sure been undergoing hefty changes since the Lunars took over, and it would be quite an amazing feat if their military system stayed the same, even for the ultra-conservative but not particularly warlike Dara Happans. I rather think their concern would be such tidbits as ensuring that all the officers were noblemen, instead of worrying about the file length.
The only historical cases I can think of in which military systems underwent little or no change over a century were cases in which little combat took place (Edo Japan), or in which battles were highly formalized (ancient Egypt before the appearance of warrior nomads).
Lunar Phalanxes.
If we retain the nominal file length of 7, assuming that they're able to switch to a close-order "3.5" length at times, and also able to double up to a 14-man file, here are my predictions about the needs for these different sizes.
7-man -- the standard file. Good for fighting other infantry and keeping away light cavalry.
14-man -- the heavy file. This is needed if you're going to face heavy cavalry. During the 1500s, an era in which both heavy armored cavalry and spearmen were in evidence, most military theoreticians agreed you needed a lot of depth to stop a charge. One man thought at least 16. So 14 is not unreasonable. Especially given that the main heavy cavalry the Lunars fight (Pent nomads) are not as heavily-armored nor are their horses as stout as what the Swiss and Landsknecht had to face off in the 1500s, when they fought the chivalry of France and Germany.
3.5 man -- this, I believe is mainly used for facing skirmishers when a lot of frontage is needed, for defending a fortified position (even a 4-foot wall is going to present a real problem to cavalry), and for facing magical opponents (when it can be handy to be spaced out, so to speak).
I suspect that the hoplites are never told to go into "open order". Instead, they just vary the depth of the line, but it's always shoulder-to-shoulder.
>The only merit I can see in the "hexes" idea is if a small group of
>hoplites, say up to about a half century
And there's darn little merit even in that. I think that the hex formation is for administrative purposes only. "Men, go to Healing Formation!" At least with hoplites. Peltasts and other missile users might find the hex formation more useful at times, as it turns them into little mutually-supporting circles of 7 guys each as the horses charge over and through them. But hoplites ... nope.
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