I have to object to the idea that must cultures trained people for mass combat. The Romans and the Greeks did, but most cultures expected that one-on-one fights were what was important. Most cultures consider war to be an occassion for them to demonstrate their valor and personal prowess. and gain status amoung their fellows. Most cultures "wars" consist primarily of indecisive skirmishes, ambushes, formal challenges, and the like. Pitched decisive battles are unusual and are avoided when possible by these cultures. That's one of the reason's why people who treat war as a business kick their ass almost every time.
Any culture that uses broad swords, axes or two handed swords is not planning on fighting in tight formations. People who expect their fights to be only mass battles use weapons adopted to this, such as spears and pikes (and other pole arms), missile weapons, and short swords.
Kevin
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