Phalanx

[I Killed Kenny]

Hello people,

I'm fighting a more than 2 decades war against the Persians as Rome. Killings a Phalanx is getting old, still I lose to many infantary when doing it.

Normaly I put my Light/Medium INF against them and then attack with the Spears/Heavy INF in the back. Is this the best way to kill those bastards? Or is there a better way?

[magick]

I hate phalanx's because they're hard to deal with without taking alot of casualties, and I hate losing men.

The best thing you really can do, afaik, is use an infantry line to hold the phalanx in place while you move either cavalry or some type of infantry to flank.

What I normally do against phalanx formations, and for that matter against most infantry-based armies, is to form two lines, the 2nd line being shorter than the other, and focus several extra stacks to one of the sides. Once the front line engages, I flank with the extra stacks and try to start a rout asap. Then I simply move my stacks on the routing side to push the entire line on its side. Once the process starts, they fold pretty quickly.

I wish the Romans have better cavalry, then I can use them to do the flank instead of using cohorts. Then again, i'm too used to SS cavalry and how they literally crush anything that they flank =P

[DraeKlae]

You can also try using missile units to soften them up before putting your infantry in the fight. For best results, have the projectiles come from their backs, although this requires some maneuvering.

Another good strategy is having your cavalry charge them in the back, then run from the fight and charge again.

Phalanxes also have a tough time fighting uphill, so you can use higher ground as an advantage as well.

[Scutarii]

The're easy if you outnumber them and have infantry to pin down and some good heavy cav (which seems to happen a lot in my Hai campaigns). But as the Romans, I find you just need to pin them down in the front with some heavy inf. on guard mode, and send a unit of two to the sides and back, and hope they start to go 'fight to the death'. The elite ones are hell to kill though...

[magick]

Greek generals are retarded to kill.

I was conquering the KH with my pre-Marian infantry, consisting mainly of Hastati and Principles, and got into a major fight where a Greek general fought against 5(!!) stacks of Hastati and Principles. They were entirely surrounded, and there was absolutely no way that they were going to survive the fight. I routed and destroyed the rest of their army, but the general stack fought to the last man, going into fighting to the death mode only when there was like 20 of them left.

[aznflea]

yeah the greek generals are quite strong, later in the game when there are alot of family members it might get quite hectic

[sinner]

Recruit some thraikioi rhomphaiaphorio,have them outflank the phalanx and they will cut through them faster than any other unit ive used, and if you have the marian reforms I usually place my cohorts on guard mode in likewise formation --_--_-- the phalanx units trying to attack through the gaps will have a disrupted formation then use the antesignani ( their small numbers very efficient in the small gaps) and hit those phalanx units from the sides, this is better then having to wait till u can fight your way all around the AI's army in a line against line formation.

[Entropy Judge]

Use Heavy infantry, Hoplites, or any Merc Phalanxes of your own to fix the enemy phalanxes, then use any Thrakian/Bastarnae/Rhomphaia units (Thrakian Peltatasts, Druhtiz Bastarnista, the aforementioned Thraikioi Rhomphaiapohoroi) to attack from behind/flanks. Due to their high Attack and AP, and good Lethality, they have little trouble whittling down phalanx numbers.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Never completely surround a unit and force them to fight to the death. Always allow your enemies to think they have somewhere to run to, but do not actually give them somewhere to run. Once you break them, let them start running away and have some medium or light cavalry chase them down.

[Narog]

Don't forget to throw all available javelins in their backs before rushing in. Many times the javelins alone are enough to make enemies rout or go into a shaken or wavering state.

[Narog]

..and don't put light infantry to pin a phalanx. You most likely won't be able to break the phalanx from the front so use heavy infantry with good defence.

[Companion Cavalry]

if you are facing a phalanx line, take one of your cavalry units and charge across the field in front of it. They will give chase and completely
lose formation, which will make outflanking easy and will allow your main body of troops to even attack the phalanx from behind, if done right.

[Entropy Judge]

Although you should be *very* careful doing that, as if you screw up, you can end up losing a cavalry unit.

[Antiochos VII Sidetes]

Thus we have Mistophoroi Hippeis, the most useless cavalry unit in the cosmos.

[Companion Cavalry]

Thus we have Mistophoroi Hippeis, the most useless cavalry unit in the cosmos.

Ah yes, the mercenary cavalry meat shields. They are also good for absorbing sling or missile fire while the troops move up

[Antiochos VII Sidetes]

Indeed. I remember a battle where I tried to rely on them to hold a flank; I remember the result of that battle was the destruction of my army and the loss of several provinces to the Koinon Hellenon...

[aznflea]

ive used the wedge formation to varying degrees of success

[nhartwell]

As mentioned, getting them to loose their morale is the best bet, which means eliminating their general is a priority. Avoid fighting full stacks of phalanxes and support troops, you wont be able to flank them in sufficient numbers (although you could try and divide and conquer by luring some phalanxes out of formation or whittling away their numbers with missile troops etc before withdrawing and fighting them another day).

My top tip however, is choose your ground CAREFULLY!

The campaign map provides you with ample opportunities to fight on your terms which favour you rather than the phalanx based armies of the Greeks such as river battles where you should always win or my personal favourite......AMBUSH! Phalanxes often end up very drawn out in column formation if an ambush is successful and don't get a chance to form a deeper line if you close quickly meaning you negate their greatest strength and can decimate them with impunity. I also recommend splitting the victims of the ambush into 3 or so manageable groups and attacking from both sides and swarming them, keeping cavalry as a shock reserve to cause routing if they are holding out. This way they cant form a battle line and loose the will to fight very quickly. You'll also find yourself with lots of spare troops as each group routs in turn freeing up your men to deal with any resistance (ie pockets of argyraspids and kleurachoi) or units that avoided encirclement.