Infantry Wedge Formation

[Avgvstvs Octavian]

While watchig the History channel's special on Budisa, the Britain Queen who lead a revolt against Rome during Nero's reign, they showed the Infantry in a wedge formation that was extremely effective and ultimatly ended up destroying the rebelion.

It went like this. The legionaries were organized just like a cavalry wedge would be, except that instead of just one point, the wedgle came to several. This could most likely be more than one unit of legionaries who were packed tightly together, but the fact still remained that this seemed be as common a tactic as the Testudo, yet it shows up nowhere in the game. I know many battles when such a formation for driving the enemy back would be very usefull, and I was interested if there where any formation sets that would allow me to do this.

[Shuriken]

have you tried rome-total realism? I haven't tried it myself but the mod is sypposed to be historically accurate.

[Slimshoom]

no rome total realism does not have an infantry wedge formation.....i had never heard of the Roman armies using the infantry wedge, i had only heard of armies in the Dark Ages and early Medieval armies using such a tactic

[MasterAdnin]

no rome total realism does not have an infantry wedge formation.....i had never heard of the Roman armies using the infantry wedge, i had only heard of armies in the Dark Ages and early Medieval armies using such a tactic

They got the idea from the Romans. But I do not know if anymod utilises this, but I hope they do.

Adnan

[Lusted]

Many people have tried and failed to implement a wedge formation for infantry like the one cavalry units use. It is impossible to do.

[removeduser_426582376423734]

The wedge formation, for anyone who doesnt know, looked a little like this.


___I_____I_____I_____I___
__I_I___I__I___I_I___I__I
_I___I_I____I_I___I_I____I

[The White Knight]

Many people have tried and failed to implement a wedge formation for infantry like the one cavalry units use. It is impossible to do.

The wedge formation, for anyone who doesnt know, looked a little like this.


___I_____I_____I_____I___
__I_I___I__I___I_I___I__I
_I___I_I____I_I___I_I____I

Well... then modders should be able to add it as a group formation, not?

[Primvs Sextvs Loverlord]

If you think about this realisticly, an infantry in a wedge formation would be exposed to all sorts of dangers .... Only a general with a -2 command would want that

[shenmueguru]

I too saw that special yesterday. It looked awesome, and as they said was like a tank. Looked like a jagged comb with big teeth - don't think itd be easy to do. Or, everyone would automatically put their inf. into wedge due to its advantages.

[Krusoth_the_Plague]

If you think about this realisticly, an infantry in a wedge formation would be exposed to all sorts of dangers .... Only a general with a -2 command would want that

It's simply a highly specialized formation to fulfill certain duties. There are benefits to be had with it, especially with various barbarian armies (due to their way of fighting).

http://www.roman-empire.net/army/tactics.html

The wedge was commonly used by attacking legionaries, - legionaries formed up in a triangle, the front 'tip' being one man and pointing toward the enemy, - this enabled small groups to be thrust well into the enemy and, when these formations expanded, the enemy troops were pushed into restricted positions, making hand-to-hand fighting difficult. This is where the short legionary gladius was useful, held low and used as a thrusting weapon, while the longer Celtic and Germanic swords became impossible to wield.

The gladius is well-implemented in such 'restricted positions,' where as the barbarian armies implementing large, slicing weapons (as seen with Boudicca's army) would have difficulty fighting. A brilliant general would surely want it!

[Stalins Ghost]

It wasn't strictly like the "wedge" the cavalry uses may I add- the front rank would not just consist of one man- he'd be too exposed, since he would have no shield buddy (hence destroying one of the MAJOR advantages Roman infantry wielded). There would be up to 20 men forming the front rank (although not always 20 of course), with later armies gradually increasing the size of this front rank, with the ranks going back getting gradually wider. The effect is basically the same as described earlier in the thread

[Avgvstvs Octavian]

In the History Channel speical on Budica who lead a revolt against Rome in Britain, They showed this formation. And from that it looked like the soldier where extremely closely packed. This would make them an inpenatrable wall. The man at the front however, was either the most unlucky, or the rest of the wedge would be at an angle such that he doesn't stick out so much.

[Zuwxiv]

In the History Channel speical on Budica who lead a revolt against Rome in Britain, They showed this formation. And from that it looked like the soldier where extremely closely packed. This would make them an inpenatrable wall. The man at the front however, was either the most unlucky, or the rest of the wedge would be at an angle such that he doesn't stick out so much.

Yep, that would suck. "Hey joe, you get point duty!" "Oh ****! "

[Shuriken]

Hey people, erm I once was looking at the screenshots section and saw one that had a formation in which the armie wrote U SUCK. It was a joke for the screenshot competition. But I was wondering how would I do that with RTW?

[Lusted]

Just drag out the units so they spelt the letters.

[StickShift]

The order to repel cavalry brought about a the following formation. The first rank would form a firm wall with their shields, only their pila protruding, forming a vicious line of glistening spearheads ahead of the wall of shields. A horse, however well trained, could hardly be brought to break through such a barrier. The second rank of the infantry would then use its spears to drive off any attackers whose horses came to a halt. This formation would no doubt prove very effective, particularly against ill-disciplined enemy cavalry.

now that would be useful. legionaries and the short gladius tend to be very vulnerable to concentrated cavalry charges so putting the pila to use like that would really make them all purpose troops. (granted this would negate auxilla somewhat but the formation could be like the shield wall in SPQR, cumbersome and only useful defensively)

[Hader]

now that would be useful. legionaries and the short gladius tend to be very vulnerable to concentrated cavalry charges so putting the pila to use like that would really make them all purpose troops. (granted this would negate auxilla somewhat but the formation could be like the shield wall in SPQR, cumbersome and only useful defensively)

I was also wondering if there was a mod that allowed you to use the shield wall for the legions, like the one in SPQR, but for use in RTR or anything else.

[Shuriken]

Darn I'm stupid

[Avgvstvs Octavian]

The problem with using Pila si that they were made to be very fragile. The reason is that once they were thrown the enemy couldn't pick it up and return the favor. So if they were to be used in a cavalry assault I think they would just bend under the weight of the horse, and not penetrate. They might have to be made a little stronger.

[StickShift]

i agree, the pilum would just bend and then be useless in a direct charge. however, in real life cavalry charges were far less devastating to the defender than in RTW. think about it, would you as a cavalry commander charge head on into a line of prepared infantry? no, you would most likely try to flank or run you horses through dispersed enemy troops so they could keep their mobility up. if you did charge, you would take heavy casualties in expensive to replace horses, so any spear armed troops would be a difficult target. also, i doubt a Roman commander would worry about using the Pilum if it would stop a charge in a pinch.