Useless spears? from Andrew Barton on 2001-01-23 (Glorantha Digest Vol 08)

From: Andrew Barton <AndrewBarton_at_compuserve.com>
Date: Tue, 23 Jan 2001 14:26:02 -0500

> Also, what was it that put greek phalanxes out of business? Romans with
short swords, big shields and a pragmatic approach to victory.

Romans with short swords, big shields and throwing spears. The pila are a crucial element.

And, until the Marian reforms the Romans continued to field spearmen as well as swordsmen in their legions, both against other Italian armies (from whom they'd copied the sword-and-javelin style in the first place) and against invading Greeks and Carthaginians. In the late Empire, spearmen with throwing darts return to the mix - these guys are wearing mail armour, so cost can hardly be the reason.

I maintain that if spearmen are useless in SCA battles, that to me is proof that those SCA battles have some crucial difference from historical fighting. It seems quite useful to try to work out what that is - because it helps us think about what happens in Glorantha battles, which have another crucial difference in the presence of magic.

Do large-scale cavalry charges with lowered spears occur on SCA battlefields?

Andrew