Board Thread:Skyrim/@comment-14027812-20131029222234/@comment-24294784-20140226041135

yeah some of the most effective armies in the ancient world were the greeks with the spear and massed pikemen in the late middle ages. At the battle of thermopylae about 7000 greeks using spear phalanxes held off a persian army believed to be between 100,000 and 150,000 strong for about a week, providing the inspiration for the movie 300. Massed pike was undoubtedly the strongest melee unit of the late middle ages, this is because it has the greatest attack  density along with extended range. Swordsmen can only effectively fight at a depth of two ( one line in front, the rank behind can also stab a bit between) and need a lot of room to swing. This means on the front of the battle line you only have 2 attacks per 6 feet. Pikes on the other hand can attack 5 and 6 deep and don't need much swing room - you get something like 5 attacks per 3 feet of battle line. This means a pike unit will carve through a sword unit like a hot knife through butter, even if the sword army is 3 times bigger the pikemen outnumber the swordsmen something like ten to one at the line of battle (assuming that formation can be held).

I don't think anyone has ever used a two handed weapon from horseback, it's kindof nuts to even try to picture it - maybe if you leaned out to one side, kind of standing in one stirrup you could do a side ways chop or an overhead chop. It would be awfully awkward. No, the two handed weapon needs to be swung to gain speed and momentum so that you can use all that weight to punch through the armor, you'd cut your horses head off.