The "Myth" of the "Dacian Falx" as a super weapon

[Matthew Amt]

And allow me to lay out the weakness of the gladius. Take a machete, or large knife. Try to stab a target. Notice that to do so, you must extend your arm to get any appreciable reach and that not much force is transferred unless the target is close. Notice that your opponent can, with a longer weapon, stand out of your range and try to kill you with relative impunity. Curse your commanders for issuing you with this weapon.

Sorry, but I really don't think massed combat was like that at all. They didn't walk calmly towards each other with weapons extended to full reach, and find out which one was longer when the other guys said "ouch". Combat range was shield-to-shield, or in this case shield-to-body. A gladius blade is more than long enough to reach that body without the hilt even extending past the shield. A 2-foot advantage in "reach" is no help when your opponent is still advancing. You can't just keep backing up, because the rest of your army is close behind you, pushing forward. If you can swing at just the right moment when he is at the perfect range for your falx, fine. But if you do not incapacitate him with that first blow (which is highly unlikely), he will take one more step and slam his shield into you, with his whole weight behind it, accompanied by a lightining sword-jab to your guts or face. If you *do* incapacitate him with that first blow, his buddy behind him will slam a pilum into you at point-blank range, then take 2 fast steps and slam his shield into you, with his whole weight behind it, accompanied by a lightining sword-jab to your guts or face. A thrust with a gladius is MUCH faster than a swing with anything, and much faster to recover from. The timing with a falx against a moving target has to be precise, whereas with a gladius it does not. You can curse whomever you like, but Roman soldiers loved their silly little swords.

It's not hard. Send for the skirmishers and harass said Romans. If Romans do not lose their discipline and use the pila, then send forth light troops to attack the Romans. Romans use pila on the light troops. When the Roman line is engaged, then commit your falxmen to the melee, disrupting the Roman lines.

Um, aren't "skirmishers" and "light troops" pretty much the same thing? As Dan pointed out, Romans had them, too. Also remember that command and control of a tribal army was not a precise science. Without training and discipline, you might not have the option of holding some troops back while others fight. They simply were not organized in that way. And I'm still a little fuzzy as to how and why committing your falxmen should so certainly disrupt the Roman lines.

If the Romans attack, then simply allow the front lines to be engaged, and then commit the falxmen. Even easier. Even if you lose you'll kill enough Romans to impair their warfighting capabilities.

How "commit"? Do you have your falxmen in separate units, each strictly controlled by highly trained officers linked by a sophisticated signalling system? How do you convince the warriors in the front ranks, who typically have earned the right to be there by being the best, to simply make way for the falxmen to get into action while they are already locked in close combat with the Romans? Even if you do it the obvious way, having falxmen more or less paired up with front-rank shield men, edging into gaps between men and swinging as the shieldmen engage the Romans, the second rank of Romans is doing the exact same thing, possibly with pila raised and ready to thrust or throw. And *they* have practiced for this moment every morning for years on end!

Well, I think we're just going to have to let you live in your own little world on how battles work. Since the situations you describe do not seem to have happened, it must not have been all that easy. You seem to assume that each swing of a falx results in one dead Roman, and that the rest will simply line up to take their turns while the naked tribesman winds up again. Great video game, but not realistic. But I just don't have more time or energy to argue with someone whose mental image of ancient combat is so stylized and unrealistic.

Vale,

Matthew