This seems an odd statement if you Take As Your Text DP, which has Phalanx This and Phalanx That, left right and centre. Though it's also clear that the army is a lot less phalanx dominated than a Macedonian one would be.
> I think the heavy infantry of the Army fight using cohort tactics, of
> which unfortunately very little is known today. What is known is that the
> cohorts vere much smaller, more mobile units, than phalanxes, and that
> they trained in very complex manouvers. For instances front cohort could
> double the spaces between men, letting pilum throwers advance to the
> front, let fly and retreat through the cohort, which neatly closed up
> again to stand up to the enemy charge... and so on.
Without knowing what sort of lunar unit you're suggesting this for (surely not the phalanxes...), or which of the unknown tactics you suggest as a model (surely not pilum-chucking...), it's hard to make a detailed reply to this. I predict you'll get widely vilified for being 'too Roman', though. ;-)
In a pitch battle, I don't think any unit smaller than a regiment/ phalanx is supposed to be meaninfully 'operationally independent'. Not the heavy infantry, at any rate. So I don't think there's really a strong analogy with the cohort model. A lunar/dara happan (or Pelandan) phalanx may be somewhat more flexibly organised in some respects (certainly I see them being deployed in 'police actions' by the square/century or so), but not really a whole lot. Where the army as a whole is more flexible is having a wider mix of forces, which given a skilled general can be a very great strength, but equally could be a recipe for disaster if not done right.
> The place for the greek/macedonian model warfare is the purely solar
> cultures.
Like for example, Dara Happa...
> Ah, and here's another thing. The great big roman legionaire shields vere
> great for holding the line and shielding the unit. But... If the enemy
> charge could break the lines and a general melee ensued then a huge shield
> is a deadly hinderance. Try it some day... in a free melee you really
> don't want anything bigger than a target shield.
And what have we learned from this today, class? <in unison> Don't let the enemy break the line, sir! Very good...
Cheers,
Alex.
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