[split] Phalanx warfare: use of the spear

[Paul Bardunias]

back to the overarm grip, Paul, i spend a lot of time trying to test your grip, but must say, it is completely unusable to hold the spear like that while striking a target.. your little finger would be under way too much stress from such thrusting, which gets painful quite fast.  Therefore that posture, is definitely not something you would want to practice in combat, where you actually want to hit somebody, which means, actual findings made by Chris Matthew in his book still stands - overarm thrust with spear held in the back, cannot achieve same level of reach than high underarm thrust.

Anyway of course it doesn't mean that they would not use spears overarm in combat, but i would tend to believe front rank would use spear underarm for initial clash to get the most of the spear length, then they would move to overarm, as both lines get closer.

Now probably most important question is from what time heavy sauroter started to appear, and what was its development in regards to spear length.. that could tell quite a lot about their actual tactic development..

You are still not understanding this.  It is difficult sometimes without visuals.  You do not use your little finger at all, that was only so that I could hold the spear in place while posing for a picture.  I have taken the time to post some .gifs that I hope explain the proper overhand strike and the way a dory was carried into battle that nullified that whole string of arguments on how to change grip while advancing. Note this is the mirror site to my blog that I use to catch and redirect traffic if it is spelled with a c.

http://hollow-lacedaimon.blogspot.com/


The images should clarify that underhand only has a reach advantage if you plan on holding the spear extended with your arm all the way out.  As you can see from my need to use my pinky to support the shaft you cannot do this with overhand.  But no one in their right mind would do this unless you are A)fending off cavalry or B)playing a game of fighting were the weakest of strikes counts as a "hit".  If you hold your arm out in a static extension you will be knocked aside.  Even sarissaphoroi, who maximized reach, did not stand with their arms extended forward.