Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-24696651-20160625002154/@comment-32663439-20160717034004

Pacman the great wrote:

(Sorry, will edit my post

btw, Tate, you don't seem to understand how cramped a testudo is. The Romans, who had shields pretty large by medieval and TES standards, had to crouch down and bunch up so that each man stood literally shoulder to shoulder - there's no way archers are fitting in there.)

23rd of Second Seed

The testudo had trouble moving quickly, and even more trouble breaking off into smaller pieces whilst maintaining formation. The process was rather slow and sloppy, and the archers had trouble firing whilst surrounded by the marching testudo, inflicting few casualties.

As the testudo lumbered into it's new formation, it took several casualties, further compromising it as gaps appeared. Around fifty men were killed, evenly distributed throughout the new, smaller groups.

As the first testudo entered the village, it was greeted by the village guard force, of about 150 men. However, the guards were equipped for supressing the populace, not large scale battles. As a result, they didn't have shields, and their weapons were shortswords, designed for speed rather than power. They also didn't get much sword practice, or drilling for fighting in formation. This meant the guards were fought to a standstill despite outnumbering the soldiers and surrounding them. (Well, I would have edited my posts today when I got back. Oh well.)

(Also, I had actually assumed my soldiers had large shields like romans. The heavy infantry, at least.)

23rd of Second Seed

The soldiers started to use attacks on their enemies that were intended to take them off their feet. Sweeping attacks and the like.