Fulcum formation

[Diocle]

Sorry for reviving this old thread but I found a good image of the Foulkon and I want this formation in game, OK it is only a dream but it would be an extremely necessary add on!

[Knonfoda]

It is indeed something that I find missing in the IBSAI mod. Hopefully they will include it in RO.

Didn't BI have the fulcum or am I just imagining things?

[Magister Militum Flavius Aetius]

The fulcrum would be impossible to accurately recreate due to the game mechanics alas. It is basically a defensive posture developed for battlefield use in a way that the testudo was used primarily for siegeworks. This 'hedgehog' formation of overlapping shields and projecting spears/lanceas was able to resist persistent attacks of infantry or cavalry. It was capable of marching in formation according to the 'Strategikon'. However, against the Sassanians, I would argue for a more Ammianus-inspired approach and move to contact at speed to negate the duration of exposure to missile fire.

Based on the Images I've seen it seems to be the same as a shieldwall. And it would not be impossible to reproduced. The alex engine is much more lenient than the BI engine, I bet I could adapt the Phalanx into a Fulcrum (lever) formation. The animation for it is not impossible an adaptation of the testudo/shieldwall animations would support the skeleton. I'll try to play around with the scripts when I get home today.

[Diocle]

Magister If you'll do this for us I'll be eternally grateful to you!! I'll be forever you most loyal servant, you'll sit down between Juppiter and Juno on the Mount Olympus!!!!!!!

[Knonfoda]

It's not quite the same as a shieldwall, because the second rank holds his shield up over the first, protecting the rear ranks. I could swear BI had it though. I must be mistaken.

[SeniorBatavianHorse]

My profile picture gives a fair representation of re-enactors doing a stationary fulcum. So you get the idea.

[Diocle]

I could swear BI had it though. I must be mistaken.

Really? Do you have the Fulcum in your copy of BI? That particular Roman formation, which could be so useful, in which the second line holds the shield high overhead, almost vertical, to protect the rear ranks and the rear ranks advance in a normal way, the Roman attack column? Like in this image?





Please then dear friend, show us some fulcum in your magnificent AAR!!! I need to see your Romans deployed 'Ad fulcum'!
Probably the problem is in my Italian version of BI, it is also quite old!

[Chelchal]

Based on the Images I've seen it seems to be the same as a shieldwall. And it would not be impossible to reproduced. The alex engine is much more lenient than the BI engine, I bet I could adapt the Phalanx into a Fulcrum (lever) formation. The animation for it is not impossible an adaptation of the testudo/shieldwall animations would support the skeleton. I'll try to play around with the scripts when I get home today.

So I'm guessing once this is done, infantry in a foulkon will have a major attack bonus against enemy infantry, particularly those in a shield wall?

[julianus heraclius]

As far as I know there is no fulcum in RTW, BI or ALEX. I don't know whether it could be created as Diocle has illustrated becasue of the limits of the RTW engine. At the moment, the best we can hope for is a combination of shieldwall and testudo, at least for RO.

[Diocle]

infantry in a foulkon will have a major attack bonus against enemy infantry, particularly those in a shield wall?

Not IMHO the Fulcum does not give any advantage against a more closely packed formation like SW.



I think that it would be very useful for advancing/attacking towards the enemy line taking less casualties from missile fire, I do not think that the Fulcum can give a bonus in close combat its advantages are:

• Be more protected while advancing, so some kind of bonus from missile fire.
• Move faster than Shield Wall! so some more speed respect SW.

Practically it is a Roman version of the Boarhead Germanic attack column, the ranks could be lesser close than SW.

At the moment, the best we can hope for is a combination of shieldwall and testudo, at least for RO.

Your words Master, keep the hope alive!! Thanks!
This is an exemple of the 'Humanitas' of Iulianus Heraclius, better than many books about Ellenism.

[First Citizen Gallienus]

If you look up "Fulcum Formation," on google, you get this interesting pdf file: http://www.duke.edu/web/classics/grb.../44/Rance2.pdf

There's this particular statement in the text I found interesting, which I'll quote. "Maurice's use of a term drawn from military slang previously unattested in Roman sources, together with the superficial resemblance of the fulcum to the "shield-walls" conventionally associated with "Germanic" warfare, has accentuated its apparent novelty and "un-Romanness."

What do you guys think about this statement?

It kind of makes sense, because to me personally, the Romans kind of represented the best of both worlds, in terms of eastern, and western ways of warfare. They were essentially a hybrid and conglomeration of nearly all styles of warfare, but that distinction seemed to slowly disappear in increments when the Empire's source of power was divided between "East" and "West." They essentially lost that awesome hybrid powerbase.

[Diocle]

Dear FCG I cannot think anithing better than to give you a link, but the link is a wonderful link of SBH, from a previous post.

From SeniorBatavianHorse:

http://www.duke.edu/web/classics/grb.../44/Rance2.pdf

[First Citizen Gallienus]

Dear FCG I cannot think anithing better than to give you a link, but the link is a wonderful link of SBH, from a previous post.

From SeniorBatavianHorse:

http://www.duke.edu/web/classics/grb.../44/Rance2.pdf

Yeah I know, I just realized lol. Sorry about that SBH
Still, it'd be interesting to see what everyone's thoughts are, regarding my previous post.

[Diocle]

I couldn't agree more! It is true they were a point of conjunction between Ellenistic warfare and Western Gaulic and German military traditions, maybe because of the particular position of Italy: a land between East and West?!?

[First Citizen Gallienus]

Rome "fought as one," as it were.

[Diocle]

I found some images of Fulcum, they could be interesting, I hope:



.

[Magister Militum Flavius Aetius]

My profile picture gives a fair representation of re-enactors doing a stationary fulcum. So you get the idea.

Actually Robert Vermaat himself stated that they were representing a shieldwall on RAT.

[SeniorBatavianHorse]

Really? He must be contradicting the Facebook description for the event this picture is taken from:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?...7315567&type=3

About half-way down you will see several pictures of this scene and they all refer to it as a fulcum.

[Knonfoda]

In any case, I would be hard pressed to distinguish the two anyway, the only difference in my mind being with the fulcum, a second row of shields is overlapped over the fist to provide that is normal in a shieldwall to provide additional protection to the second and third ranks. Both tactics rely on the overlapping of shields for defensive purposes, it's just the extent that differs.

[SeniorBatavianHorse]

Yes, however the fulcum is a tactical battlefield arrangement that could also be deployed in the advance to contact. I wonder if the classic shieldwall of the Germanics was so well organised? Also, the Roman soldiers were able to split the maniple unit in half (primani forwards and secundi backwards) and reverse the back half to present a rear fulcum against flanking or rear attacks. Again perhaps something beyond less well-trained troops? I see the fulcum as a half-way house between the warrior-based shield-burg and the old phalanx formations of the Greeks.