Alex:
>That'd make sense to me, with the Pelandan phalanx being the more
>'classical' one. (Nevr mind that they're not a 'pure solar culture'.
>Maybe the Sun Dome Templars are the bastard child of the two in some
>fashion... I trust Martin will lob up at this point and give us the
>Definitive Take of DH vs. P. (vs whomever else) phalanxes, assuming
>the distinctions haven't been cross-fertilised out of existence in
>the modern day.
The Pelandas were first with the Phalanx in the sense that they had the first hoplites. Urvairinus had organised bodies fo men but they lacked the heavy weight of armour of the Pelandan phalanx. I suppose the difference could be compared to the Greeks vs the Persians at Marathon. Both fought in tight groups but the weight of armour was clearly with the Greeks. One reason why many Pelandans fought for other armies was because of this superioirty. They were the hoplite kings, much as the Greeks were (and fought for many Perisan satraps (hence Xenaphons wee excursion)). It took a long time for a weapons industry to match the Pelandan 3rd Eye Blue to grow in DH and so for the longest time, their armies were composed of lighter phalanxes that the Pelandans. The Pelandans were the heavy infantry specialists.
The Pelandan phalanx was definately more of a feudal body, being recruited from the Daxdarian warrior caste of Pelanda, which still exists to a limited degree. The Horde Breaker hoplite regiment from Peldre is recruited from the remaining Daxdarian cities in Oronin and is counted as an elite phalanx. Note that they do have some difference to the DH phalanxes. All Pelanda phalanxes (when there were more of them) followed Daxdarius. The DHs are much more varied in their approach, due to the differences in strucuture caused by their creation and origin. They also tend to be more "regular" in that they were not recruited from a warrior/noble caste. 1000 men is standard with a frontage of 100 men, 10 deep.
In the first age there was a significant development in phalanx warfare caused by the battles fought by the Bright Empire against the Westerners. There the DHs were exposed to heavy cavalry for the first time in serious numbers. They found that the hoplite style of combat (spear used overhand) was less than effective in stopping such a charge. Once the phalanx was broken, the cohesion loss was usually disasterous. Palangio and others learnt fromt his and via the institution of war known as the Daysenarus cult, they partly adopted a heavier phalanx, shoulder to shoulder, shield from the shoulder staps and using a sarissa like pike. This phalanx usually formed the center of their line with lighter, older phalanxes on either flank. However, it was an even more specialised tactical body than the hoplite, less mobile and less capable once broken. It could only operate as a combined arms component. After the wars against Arkat, the form of tis warfare was dropped until recent HQs and other heroics from the Yelmalions.
>(Most of the DH ones have been explicitly re-formed in the Lunar era, for
example, >IIRC.)
Almost every Imperial regiment has been reformed at least once. Within the memory of Great Sister, the entire mobile army was slowly rebuilt after the Nights of Horror. In part this explains the policy of basing a regiment in a Satrapy and leaving behind one company as a depot unit. Most phalanxes you meet in the field will be understrength by at least one company, assuming other attritional loss.
Martin Laurie
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