Pikes in square

[vakarr]

Does a pike unit fight any less effectively if it is in square? My experience so far seems to be that there's no difference between a pike unit in square formation and one that isn't as far as its fighting ability is concerned. This makes it really really hard to beat up pikes if you don't have pikes or superior warband or legionaries. Surely if it is arrayed to fight in four directions it should not be fighting like a tercio, but at a quarter less effectiveness - it's an ancient pike phalanx for which I don't recall any forming square anyway. Here's a picture from my latest battle, there are five units attacking a pike unit which has been shot at almost every turn of the game and been in a few combats, but it's still going strong and cavalry charges initially bounced off it. It's just shrugging off the attacks and the attackers are getting the worst of it (admittedly they had taken some damage also prior to this). OK the unit broke a couple of turns later but it seems wrong that there's no penalty for being in square except that you can't move.

Seleucid square attacked by five units and still going strong

Screen_00000008.jpg (1017.35 KiB) Viewed 1998 times

[Lancier]

I had the same issue in my tournament battles, i was attacking the pikes in square with 5-6 units, nothing happened to them ^^ lol

[rbodleyscott]

The penalty for being in square is that the unit cannot charge and exerts no ZOC - so cannot protect the flanks of its friends.

These are significant penalties.

As to reducing its fighting strength, that would make it easy to run over it, which would mean there was little point in forming square. If you attack it with several units its fighting ability will be reduced by 20% per extra unit, up to a maximum of 50%.

Alternatively shoot it to death (which is effectively what the Romans did at Magnesia, they didn't charge it prior to it becoming disrupted) or simply ignore it and defeat the rest of its army while it impotently stands there.

[GiveWarAchance]

Sounds like a realistic design.

I used squares a lot in Empire Total War mostly on the flanks to stop enemy cavalry from swarming around the flanks. They did good but fell apart fast when attacked by fresh infantry and they soaked up cannon balls a fair bit. I made squares in the front line too when being rolled up by the enemy army with multiple flanks being flooded to help my dwindling forces hold out a bit longer before defeat. The best thing about squares is they allow you to lose with more grace than you otherwise would have.