Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-17114085-20150207130230/@comment-17114085-20150211222244

Pacman the great wrote: (If the cavalry is galloping most of the way there, and they took about half the day, then how would the infantry get there in time. They wouldn't run (infantry marches), and if they did they'd be exhausted. They'd move at about a quarter of the cavalry's speed, and thus take two days.)

(The effectiveness of phalanxes in general was down to them having a wall of sharp things pointed at the enemy. Also, you can have small shields on your arm if your using a two handed weapon. Not a very good one, but if you've got a giant spear (or indeed a halbred, which can function as a spear), they have to get past all of the spears. Aside from the whole problem of getting stabbed to death, the spear wall is quite difficult to get past, as you have to push all of the spears out of the way. Macedonian phalanxes used by Alexnader the Great were incredibly effective, conquering half of the known world, and they used two handed weapons.)

(The whole point of light infantry is that they don't fight in close order. Not much of a match against heavy infantry, but in a supporting role (as in here), or with greater numbers (as in here, as they probably number more than the heavy infantry who got through the phalanx), they can do well. They also defend using dodges rather than parries.)

(Streets aren't that wide, especially in a village. It's a street right next to the wall, not in the center, so it wouldn't have much horse traffic. Therefore, not many men would be needed to block it. It's only going to be 5-10 metres wide, which ten men could easily occupy.)

(No, the skirmishers would immediately charge forward if the line was broken. And even if they didn't, the men attacking the flanks of the phalanx would be getting attacked by the skirmishers from the side. Even if they do have light weapons, they'd have an advantage against a soldier distracted by killing someone in heavy armour. If they had a shield wall to protect against attack from skirmishers, it'd either be behind the phalanx (from their perspective), so there would be exposed points at the sides that the skirmishers can outflank, or the shield wall would be in line with the phalanx, so some of the phalangites would be attacking the shield wall, supported by skirmishers.)

(They may have been warned, but Luciun's men literally just went round the block (or whatever equivalent there is in Riverwood). The cavalry wouldn't arrive much earlier than the infantry, certainly not early enough to give appropriate warning.)

(First of all... axes. Second, how did the archers fire at my infantry if they were on a cramped wall.)

(Striking at the legs doesn't require you to duck down, particularly when you're a knight with a longsword. Secondly, by the time the infantry reacted, they'd have been stabbed in the leg. In a tight formation, it's impossible to dodge such an attack.)

The phalanx started to slowly march backward, whilst mantaining the fighting. The skirmishers did likewise, though those not in the fighting returned the fire of the archers. They fired at the ones on the edge of the wall, who would be easy to hit with their accuracy.

The commander of the regular infnatry said nothing, and merely stood there in glum silence.

Luciun's infantry attacking the shield wall, having killed most of the front rank, were now making good progress in the murder of the enemy, as the shield wall couldn't reformed properly in the fight. Those fighting the cavalry with the skirmishers continued the fight. They outnumbered them by about two to one, but roughly half were skirmishers. Still, they were killing the cavalry faster than they killed them, and would be victorious. (I am not changing it, they will arrive with three hours or so. Also even if they arrived the next day it wouldn't make any difference in the battle.)

(This may be an RP but it is based on the Elder Scrolls games. Two-handed weapons make it impossible to hold anything else in their hands. So no, they wouldn't be able to hold small shields like bucklers. Alexander didn't conquer his empire with phalanxes, they weren't even the most used tactic that he employed in his conquest in the east. But anyway that is irrelevant.)

(Light infantry, like any infantry is made for fighting in close quarters. That is what infantry does. The fact that they are inferior to heavy infantry doesn't change them into a supporting role. You can use them as the bulk of an army and still have a highly effective army. As for their numbers being more than those of the phalanx, yes, I even posted that in my last post.)

(Riverwood is a town, not a village and it is much bigger than it appears in Skyrim. It has about 2000 or so citizens. This is not the Riverwood from the game.)

(You posted that the Skirmishers filled the ranks of the phalanx after the warriors broke through in the middle, so obviously they would've headed there pretty fast. Also there isn't a shieldwall there, the men are fighting the skirmishers and keeping them away from the other warriors that are attacking the phalanx. So the skirmishers can't attack the warriors while they are attacking the phalanx because the warriors that are past the formation are holding them back while the others attack the formation from the center to the sides.)

(You can ready my post before yours where Luciun's men charged at the shieldwall. After the second great cavalry charge they headed back to the shieldwall. So yes, they arrived before your men as they were there pretty much after the second charge. So yes the shieldwall would've had a heads up. Sure it would still take a bit for the men in the back of the shieldwall to turn around but you didn't catch them by surprise or with their backs turned.)

(What about the axes? And as for the archers they aren't pilled on top of one another. The wall may be only wide enough for 3 people to stand side by side but it sure is long. So they are pretty spread out. Only near the infantry was where they had to pack together to prevent the infantry from charging through them. I even said that they were in loose formation a while back.)

(I never said they ducked down, but your men swung low, which leaves their upper body pretty defenseless. As for dodging that attack they could either just take a step back, to the side, try to parry the blow with their own weapon or try to block with their shield. They can move their shields down, it isn't glued to their chest.)

While the phalanx moved back the warriors were able to strike at them dealing a few more blows before they retreated. The warriors fighting the skirmishers continued to engage them and tried pushing through their ranks. Out of the 30 remaining men in the phalanx only about 20 were able to retreat unharmed. As the warrior's focus turned to the skirmishers and they were in the archers' line of fire, the Skirmishers in the west suffered 10 casualties. However the warriors also suffered losses. The situation was now 475 vs. 445.

The dismounted cavalry leader repeated again. "Do you surrender?" The men on the wall were ready to start fighting the infantry again should they not put down their weapons. A few of the archers on the wall were hit by Skirmisher arrows, they lost about 10 men. Now only 80 archers in total remained, but only 70 of them were firing down on the skirmishers. As the infantry men were at roughly only 70 or so soldiers left and on the wall Whiterun still had 100 dismounted cavalry and 80 archers some of them contemplated heading down to reinforce the cavalry.

The shield wall had split up as soon as they were attacked from the east, so they had little trouble keeping their formation as the men behind the front rank were already in position. In the east of the Skirmish there were 160 warriors and 140 cavalry fighting the 305 men that were with Luciun. So the numbers were pretty even. The warriors were faring better than the cavalry, except for the great cavalry which were easily holding their own and still numbered 35 men. Both sides lost men and soon the battle was at 455 vs. 420. With Luciun's men suffering only 20 casualties and their foes suffering 25.