05-25-2021, 06:15 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-25-2021, 06:58 PM by Sean Manning.)
Polybius says that each Roman infantryman occupied three feet of breadth for their body and arms and another three feet so they could step and use their weapons freely (Polybius 18.30.5ff). You can fudge it a bit, like Michael Taylor's 'checkerboard' model, or choose to disbelieve, but that is what he says.
Here is a description of hand to hand combat with no formation at all https://bookandsword.com/2014/04/03/a-pr...ghanistan/ We hear of the same in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, where infantry had poor weapons and little or no training in hand to hand combat so if the lines came together everything became a few moments of chaos until one side ran away.
IIRC, Big Al was leading his army diagonally forward. Presumably this was columns of individual sub-units each advancing at an angle and then deploying into a wider shallower formation which could only move straight forward as the King's Men started to move.
Here is a description of hand to hand combat with no formation at all https://bookandsword.com/2014/04/03/a-pr...ghanistan/ We hear of the same in Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, where infantry had poor weapons and little or no training in hand to hand combat so if the lines came together everything became a few moments of chaos until one side ran away.
IIRC, Big Al was leading his army diagonally forward. Presumably this was columns of individual sub-units each advancing at an angle and then deploying into a wider shallower formation which could only move straight forward as the King's Men started to move.
Nullis in verba
I have not checked this forum frequently since 2013, but I hope that these old posts have some value. I now have a blog on books, swords, and the curious things humans do with them.
I have not checked this forum frequently since 2013, but I hope that these old posts have some value. I now have a blog on books, swords, and the curious things humans do with them.
