Board Thread:Roleplaying/@comment-17114085-20150207130230/@comment-17114085-20150209220213

Pacman the great wrote: (I did specify that these infantry had billhooks, halberds and other polearms. The equipment isn't standardised, so some will have different weapons. The heavy infantry haven't been fighting that much (they had a break inbetween killing the necromancers and fighting the shield wall to finish off the walls), and they shouldn't be any more tired than the shield wall. The Persians' sent their elite Immortals to charge the Greeks, who are probably better equipped and trained than your infantry, and had the same tactics.)

(If your watch tower is walled with stone, then it presumably has only one exit point, a doorway. And if it has one exit point, then all it takes is for a few men to stand their stabbing anyone who comes out, and they're screwed. So surely the reinforcements from up top would have a lot of trouble effectively reinforcing?)

(And finally, if the archers on the wall are faring so well against the infantry on the top due to reinforcements on the other side, then surely the skirmishers, who are good light infantry, and supported by a phalanx, shouldn't be doing too badly when their enemy is being clobbered from the rear.)

Luciun and his heavy infantry pressed the assault, pushing the enemy back to cramp them and get rid of the space they need to use their weapons effectively. The archers behind them mostly continued to fire at the dismounted cavalry at close range, usually from more than one side at one, thus enabling them to hit accurately and penetrate their armour. Those that were engaged in melee used their axes to sever the limbs and hack through the armour, and used their superior agility to dodge blows.

The infantry on the wall adopted a somewhat different strategy, and instead did their best to patty the attacks, and slow down their demise. Because their were only three abreast, the oppurtunity the enemy had for killing them was limited.

The phalanx continued to stab at the enemy, slowly walking forward with their pikes and weapons outstretched, to force the enemy to back pedal. The skirmishers streamed through the gap, serving as a screening force for the phalanx. (Then the phalanx wouldn't be as effective. The Spartan Phalanx worked so well because they all fought the same and with the same weapons, spears and then with swords for close range. Their standardized equipment made it so the whole formation was at the same level. A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. Actually much less tired, the warriors only started fighting after the wall was breached and their first opponent was actually the phalanx. Before that they did nothing except move or form up the formation. And I already explained why the Spartan situation doesn't apply here.

The cavalry were there at the entrance, so it is not like your men are at the door to the watchtower. Your men weren't even near the watchtower until after the men had reinforced with the great cavalry two posts ago.

The Skirmishers are elite archers, you never said anything about them being light infantry. So they wouldn't be any better than regular archers in melee. And the two situations are very different. 30 archers trying to fill the gap in the phalanx would be much less effective than archers using a firing squad tactic in a space in which only about 3 men can stand side by side.)

The dismounted cavalry were using swords, so pushing them closer to the wall did little to diminish their fighting ability. The street was packed with men all fighting each other so the Skirmishers had to be right next to or adjacent to the men to even be able to fire at them accurately, which put them right in the range of the swords of the cavalrymen. The skirmishers may have been fast but with how the street was packed they weren't able to dodge forever. In the fighting Falkreath lost 20 men in the south and another 10 in the west. The status in the street was 595 vs. 545 men as the cavalry had lot 20 soldiers in the south as well.

They were able to slow down their demise but it continued. It was now 80 vs. 190 men atop there.

The skirmishers weren't able to seal the phalanx as it had already been breached by the warriors. They had pushed into the hole created in the formation and were able to strike at the remaining heavy infantry from the sides. This was a snowball effect as the more heavies died the less effective the phalanx was thus enabling the warriors to kill them faster. Falkreath lost another 20 men in the phalanx as well as 5 archers, leaving only 50 heavy infantry left and with 165 archers left. The status in the street was 570 vs. 530 men as the warriors suffered 15 casualties from the phalanx attacking the men still in front of them.

As night was rolling in the housecarl knew that the rest of the army would arrive soon, maybe within three hours or so. So they just had to hold Falkreath at bay while the rest of the Jarl's men arrived in the town. (Whiterun still has another 600 men marching to Riverwood as so far only the cavalry has arrived.)