Romans vs. the Phalanx / Hoplite

[zchmrkenhoff]

In all of my history as the Romans and encountering any faction that uses the hoplite or phalanx troop, I always find the battle to be the most intense and uncertain who will win. Recently going against Eprios' armies, I find myself trying new strategies and such trying to beat those huge phalanx blocks and it's always rather difficult.

How do you find yourself beating Alexanderesque phalanx armies as the Romans?

I personally find that my Hastati are immediately annihilated as I charge in after throwing the pilums, my Princepes do SOME damage, and I'm able to flank with my Triarii and win somehow

[dvk901]

You need to turn 'guard mode' OFF on Legionaries fighting phalanx units...for one thing. They NEED to be able to back up. I don't commit my Hastati to the front lines right away, or sometimes at all. I put them behind and let the more powerful Principes and Triarii handle the front. Then I allow the phalanx to bulge my lines inward...sorta like what Hannibal did to the Romans at Cannae. Then I flank around with Hastati and any cavalry I have left....or anything I have left, and hit the phalanx units from behind repeatedly. This generally causes them to raise spears, try to turn around, get disaorganized, and feel the pinch of being hit from front and back. If you are fortunate, they will break and run...albeit, slowly. As each breaks..don't follow! Just turn the remaining units that TRY to follow into the backs of any remaining phalanx units and kinda pick them off one by one.

It was the only way I found to beat Macedon's units in RS1.5....after turning a number of my legionaries into chopped liver trying to hold my ground against them. LOL

[chaplain118]

I use the Soviet technique: recruit as much as possible and then just bum rush the phalanxes. The key is to send a few units rushing for the area BEHIND the phalanx. This somehow causes the phalanx to switch to swords, and at that point, my units have already ran into them enough that I order them to attack.

Or pin them down with heavy infantry and flank them with velites and other missiles.

[Abreas]

Usually I leave gaurd mode on and try to send at least one unit behind the enemy phalanx line with gaurd mode off. If this unit is of quality it should eventually route the pinned phalanx unit. Also, unloading the pila on a flanked unit, I think, is the most satisfying tactic. If that unit turns it's spears to my flanking unit, I turn guard mode on - so basically whatever side is facing the spears.

Then it kinda turns into a domino effect, and the more units become available the faster the dominos fall.

Of course this really only works if you've eliminated the enemies support troops first. It also helps to have more soldiers as well . There have been more than a few times when I've had to stretch my line pretty thin, but using that tactic got the heroic victory

[zchmrkenhoff]

I've found that if you place a legion positioned correctly in front of a phalanx, that if you charge in with guard mode on, the units will block every single spear thrust and exhaust the whole phalanx, rendering the phalanx useless. I fought one battle against some free people and disengaged their entire battle line of phalanxes using this pin down technique, and was able to run my triarii position parallel behind the thing and charge in.

One technique that I don't find effective is to charge into the back of phalanxes with cavalry. It could be the heaviest cavalry in the world... it just seems whenever I use this technique the second the cavalry touch the back of the phalanx they all just die somehow. Works if you can get the phalanx to route on contact though (ever been in a situation where all the enemy had left was one last phalanx, you charge in and the "continue battle" "end battle" message comes up and all sound stops except for the dying screams of a hundred hoplites? ).

But definitely, the best killer of these units is missile weapons... with the unit size on huge, 220 hastati pilums does quite a bit of damage

[Angrychris]

archers/horse calv destroys phalanx units easly, javalin units run out of ammo to fast and everything else is just a matter of how many men you are willing to sacrific in hammer and anvel tactics. In large battles it is almost impossible to get around giant armies of phalanx units and i would go heavy on archers if i were you. It took me months of constant battles to learn the counters to every unit/regional army.

[Souka]

To bad your not playing as gatea/bosporans, their falxmen cut through every phalanx their is.

[Hannibulluis Cullis]

well i use a three pronged attack since a phalanx in a line is kinda hard to get through i spilt my army in three so the enemy would either have to split off into smaller groups to ingadge them and this makes them very vunarable to missle attackes and cav attacks then your infantry can close and suround the spilt line of phalanxs and so you win the battle with out killing 2/3s of your men

[cnaeus]

to bad the AI always destroys its phalanx if you get close so they never really present a solid wall...they're always just tight blocks of men scattered over the battlefield...so its actually way to easy to destroy phalanxes...even more so when talking about a macedonian one...and for an added bonus when fighting a greek phalanx(the one thats automaticaly in one) the AI always disables guard mode and therefor goes aut off phalanx when attacking...not that it matters because when staying in phalanx(guard mode on) the phalanx start doing weird stuff like turning its side to the enemy its fighting...but a macedonian phalanx(or the wrong greek onesXD) are doing alright when attacking.

tedious story?? well yeah...but i was bored...see ya later

cnaeus,

[Souka]

I've recently battled against the Macedonians in my roman campaign and the tactic i find the easiest is to have 3-4 unit of triarii and turn guard mode ON, and have principes & missile, light infantry & cavalry behind them.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Ai won't try to flank you with their phalanxes instead they send them straight to the triarii and you can easily run behind with your principes & archer/velites troops and unload the missiles into the massed pack of spears. And keep some principes with guard mode ON behind the triarii incase they can't hold the line.

[welwelwel]

I tried a tactic of Hannibal a few days ago, though with a post-Marion army. I formed op in a V vormation with my first cohort in the middle.

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The red squares are my legionary cohorts. The biggest one in the Middle is my first cohort. The green square are light auxilia. The ligt blue ons are cohort auxilia, Dark blue ones is Legionary cavalry and the black square is my Generals bodyguard. Just let the Hoplites come in, swing your auxilia's around the back. Then trow in the Pilla's and charge. Use your cavalry to protect the rear of the auxilia's

[En_tu_Brute]

I'm having alot of trouble with Macedon as they quickly counter attacked after I took half of northern Greece in two turns () now all their armies fighting my allied Dacians (Or Gaete) are heading to south, how do you kill a macedon army with few casualities?

[Enyalius]

@ En_tu_brute onagers & missile troops if you only fire from behind you will get more kills per missile.. after smashing their army up with onagers, move in with the missiles (get rid of any cav somehow) and just lure their phalanxes foreward so you can start flanking w missiles. take one phalanx at a time, when one reaches 50 people move on to the next if he turns to follow, fire with the missile troop you used to lure him foreward. Slingers+peltasts are excelent for this or slinger+slinger.