Quote:
Originally Posted by astralis
if you see the pix, there are still gaps between the shields, where the head is (front and rear rank), and the feet. this would be all the more true as arrows start thunking down.
basically, against foot archers this wouldn't be so bad- testudo offers enough protection for the legionaries to close in, first with pilum and then with sword. but against horse archers, this is more problematic, as the romans on foot are going have a devil of a time catching up to horse archers doing cantabrian circles/parthian shots.
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Not as much as you might think if they had a good commander. Men can walk most horse armies to death. I can only think of two horse armies that could not be run down by men on foot and thats the Mongols and Native Americans and they had large remudas. A professional and heavy cavalry force with smaller remudas facing an infantry army with a good commander is in trouble. later Roman victories vs the Parthians bare this out.