Scenter102
Legionary
posted 27 October 2012 09:13 EDT (US)
I was reading a bit in a book I got year back about different forms of warfare from the Eqyptians to the American Civil War. In the section about the Romans there was a picture showing legionares in testudo formation with cavarly on top of their shields. But, in RTW the fromation is useless exept to defend against skirmishers. Also, in The Eagle the legionares form testudo, and hold thier formation until they meet chariots.
Which account is more accurate?
Scenter102
Legionary
posted 27 October 2012 15:04
EDT (US)
2 / 7
History of Warfare or something, it is contained in one of 30 boxes of books in my basement so i won't bother looking for it for a while.
ShieldWall
Legionary
posted 12 May 2013 03:46
EDT (US)
5 / 7
The best example I can think of is Carrhae, where Crassus put his infantry into the testudo formation due to the efforts of the Parthian horse archers, only to make them a good target for the cataphracts. You'd need spears to repel cavalry, a dense formation of short swords is just going to be ridden down. The formation is designed to make the most of those big shields and protect everyone from missiles, but it's very hard to move about when in testudo and you surely can't fight effectively when in one.