Those Romans

From: Andrew Barton <100010.533_at_CompuServe.COM>
Date: 13 Mar 97 09:05:42 EST


Martin said:  

> I've always felt the pilum effect on shields to be somewhat overrated and
picked up on by far to many fiction writers and military writers who think its a cool idea - if a normal javelin is stuck in your shield and you are in a pike formation -when do you get the time to clear it?  

The pilum doesn't have any advantage over other large missile weapons when it comes to sticking into shields. Its unique feature is that it's designed to have its head bend or break on impact so that it can't be thrown back.  

As for the general merits of the legionary style of equipment, there were at least two occasions when Greek or Carthaginian armies invaded Italy and after a while their generals discarded their troops' existing weapons and replaced them with the Roman style, despite the price they had to pay in re-equipping and retraining.  

Andrew


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