[split] Phalanx warfare: use of the spear

[Bryan]

and weren't Greek spears getting continually longer? the whole Macedonian Phalanx was made around the concept of longer reach..


And no, to me Othismos sounds more like a morale thing.. going forward into contact with enemy, not necessarily pushing him physically off the battlefield.. It is common thing in military history to use term "push the enemy" and not literally mean pushing, but having men to advance and "push forward"..  I think the combat psychology is one area that is greatly overlooked in all this, and instead such insignificant things like a speed of a thrust or few percentage stronger hit is being dissected to maximum, yet the base notion of human psyche to survive, is put to a side note... People are not suicidal, guys doing reenactment battles do take risks they would not take if they were in real battle.. same as guys playing paintball would not take in a gunfight. So yeah, having a long reach is something that helps dramatically with the morale of an average Joe, who has no intention to get killed... he would poke an enemy, but he would not be risking his like just to get a kill..

If you were in a war, would you risk your life the same way as you would do playing the game? i really doubt that, otherwise you would not be there.. and thats the base principle that is valid over the history. So maybe instead of looking for what gives best power, what is best from close range etc etc, it would be worth looking at which tactics gives you some standoff from enemy, yet you still are endangering them..

No, Greek spears weren't getting longer. Macedonian infantry was a complete reform of infantry, Phillip specifically changed them, basing them on examples from the Iliad, not just giving them slightly longer spears and slightly smaller shields. 

I've been in the military, in the infantry, and been in a war. So trust me when I tell you that if an enemy had such a major flaw that made him utterly useless in close distance like your model hoplite is, not a single soldier worth his salt wouldn't do everything in their ability to get close in, because then they win. You don't play the game the enemy wants you to play, you play to your own advantage. 

What I am trying to tell you, what others are too, that in a tight phalanx of near or overlapping shields, an overhand grip allows the hoplite to defend and attack from long range, medium range, and bad breath/shield on shield range, for both the front and second rankers. This is not possible with an underhanded grip, they cannot perform anything with their spears once the enemy passes the distance at which their spear points are at. After that point, upon getting within 5 feet of the JaM phalanx, they've hit the spear tips, and pass them by parrying them up with their own spears, and move forward to close killing distance.