Warrior Ancient and Medieval Rules

History stuff – nothing to do with rules or changes:

The best practical explanation I've read is Goldworthy. He
believes HTH occurred in sections along the battleline, i.e. fighting
was a series of isolated contacts varying in size. When the
combatants tired, they would draw away from each other to get a
breather. It was during these lulls that replacement took place.
The replacing maniple/cohort would then pilum and charge the tired
opponents. If a third line was used, the drill was repeated. The
replaced cohorts would get their breather, possibly rearm, and get at
the end of the line to repeat the process. The lack of organization
and discipline of mass "barbarian" foot aided all this. They
could not bring relief in a timely manner or retire orderly. The
natural "Herding" of humans under combat or mortal duress
most likely froze the barbarian foot formation, aiding the
replacement and facilitating the kill.
----------------------------------------------------------------
Some speculation on my part is that the model for linear maniple
organization may be all wrong. If they fought in this fashion, C2
and replacement would be all but impossible. The lines of H, P, or T
would be about 1.2 km long, one maniple would be a football field
wide (that's book strength of 120 trooper/maniple x 3 ft/trooper
x 10 maniples, not allowing for formation gaps). For well-documented
linear C2 problems, see what happened to Confederate C2 at Shilo.

Instead of linear formations think of the maniples organized in
depth. Each maniple of H, P, T and Veles formed a command unit.
Then line them up so that they "appear" in linear
organization. I think it's this and other "appearances"
that are described by ancient authors and most likely they are not
describing function.

Reduce the maniple to a frontage of 30 or 40 meters, or 4-man-deep
centuries. Now we have a compact formation where the commander has a
tight sphere to operate. Orders would be fairly instantaneous for 2
of the maniple packets arrayed in-line. The centuries could also
deploy in depth or in-tandem depending of the situation. Replacement
now can be done rapidly by century, maniple, or perhaps by
entire "cohort".

Could this be the "attack columns" described in earlier
posts? If so, it may not be far off IMO.

The "Cohort System" retained the organization of H, P, and T
maniples. Maybe the "Maniple System" never lost its cohort
organization.

What you guys think?

Regards, Fred

Some other Latin Thoughts to stir the history juices:
- True function of the Pilum – should opponents count shieldless
too?
- Nature of Roman infantry wedges – no one else fought in them
and you can't eat just one.
- What really produced Marian Reforms – probably not Marius