Phalanx Vs Terrain

The phalanx was a magnificent formation in many ways.

Made of around two hundred and fifty men, the soldiers would be usually armed with a bronze helmet, a bronze cuirass, and leather hands and legs greaves, while being packed as tightly together as possible to enhance unit cohesion.

They would be armed with around two meter-long spears and large, around a meter in diameter, shields, making their frontal attack capacity devastating.

The spears from the first four to five rows would point out of the front of the formation, intended to skewer the enemy, while the rest of the rows would point their spears upwards at a slanted angle, in an effort to ward off any incoming projectiles.

This bristle of spears were nigh invincible in frontal attacks, except against other phalanxes and the formation proved so effective that it was the standard and mostly the only infantry formation of the time.

But like any and all other things in the world, this thing also had its disadvantages.