Friendly fire (don\'t use your dory underhanded in a phalanx)

[Sean Manning]

Hi Paul,

Paul I am having trouble understanding "high underhand strike ".

Here's a link showing it: http://www.fectio.org.uk/groep/2003pos5.jpg For some reason late Roman reenactors like this grip. Perhaps because their spears are untapered and it allows you to choke up on the shaft more, extending more of the spear towards your foe and bracing it along the forearm. The strike from this position is very slow and weak compared to an overhand strike. If any late Roman reenactors who use this strike happen to read this, I'd love your opinion.

Since I'm one of the LR in the picture I’ll give my views, although Stuart has already said most about it.
One - this grip is pure theory, I have not come across pictorial evidence for it yet (but then no LR image of any sort of grip is available, most images that we have show shorter shafts).
Two - this grip maximizes the length of the shaft. An overhand grip is only possible roughly in the middle of the shaft, this one allows you (by tucking the end under your armpit) to get the best reach. We use this because we have the complaint by Syrianus in mind that the soldiers found their spears to be too short against cavalry, and this might be part of an answer.
Three - It's a matter of protection. Where an overhand grip would expose your arm, this does not, and it allows you to raise your scutum to cover your the lower part of your face. I realize that our LR scuta are larger than your hoplite shields, and that may also account for a difference.

I'm not sure how much different that would be from your situation, but I think we do not need to be too agile with the spears because our enemies are either heavy cavalry or similarly hiding behind large shields. But this grip allows the 3 ranks behind me to cover my front and still not threaten any of the guys behind us with 'friendly fire'.

Sixteenth century Italian masters called thrusting with that grip (with a spear in two hands couched at your right armpit) the punta portata. Pretty far from the Late Roman world, but it shows that it was definitely used in combat.

Its really annoying that the Renaissance manuals appear just when spear and shield was falling out of fashion.