Quote:They are, now that I think about it. The Dynasty's capital is in one of the easternmost vales, making the shorter path in real terms going over to the seaward side and taking ship down the coast.
- Have the road they're on be within a days march of the water.
Yes, the Dynasty has oceanfront property; nothing really important, but enough to find pirate raids annoying.
The reason she doesn't stay on the ship is that one of the lesser powers, the small breakaway states, is situated right smack dab on the mouth of The River, and has absolutely no desire to see the River Kingdom freeing up troops that might be used to break their control of that kind of economic resource.
Quote:They are indeed Quite, Quite Large. Think Kyushu or Crete, not Hawaii or Manhattan. There's also a situation where a phalanx is strong that you've missed - if it's your city and you know where all the gaps are, you can fill them with spearpoints that don't have any open flanks.
- If you're going with Ancient Greek, then that answers some of the phalanx issue. Phalanxes are still poor at anything other than Flat, though, and most island combat will be in the form of establishing beachheads, unless the islands in question are Quite Large. (if they're large enough that one island might have two different, potentially mutually hostile armies, that works. If they're large enough that you could sail in on one of them and land an invading force before the ruler got defenders in your way, that kinda works.
Good luck taking that
Quote:Heh. ^_^
In terms of the fearsome fighting potential of phalanxes, you can skirmish them effectively enough with just about any sort of light troops. Running a phalanx properly means that you have a Very Large Spear (one-handed) and a Very Large Shield (the greek plan) or you have an Even Larger Spear (two-handed) with a modest shield. Tack on the traditional armor beside that and you just aren't going to be moving very fast. Even without cavalry, or even chariots, you can flank them pretty well with light infantry.
Anyway, yeah, you've got a point about their movement speed, but they've got the Marines to cover their flanks, which makes up for a lot.
Not that any of them wouldn't be dogmeat if the Guard got in among them, but there really aren't any troops in the world that can say that they'd do better.
My vision of their equipment, BTW, is that they have a Very Large Shield that's set up to rest its weight on the shoulder and cover to about the knuckles of the left hand - which in turn leaves both hands free enough to be useful with an Even Larger Spear.
Why bother with something that awkward? Because they're set up more to fight each other than close melee troops, and having a longer stick than your opponent is an advantage in that situation.
Quote:Because they're independent city states who are stuck sharing relatively small landmasses and find piracy a very useful strategic tool. The Dynasty's a land power, the Delta Dukes are busy milking their cash cow, and the River Kingdom's fleet is penned away from the ocean - as things stand, their biggest threats are each other.
For that matter, why are semi-piratical island nations so focused on dominance in set-piece land battle anyway?
Besides, most of the raiders are doing it on their own time and for their own profit - ie, they think of 'merchant seaman' and 'pirate' as being pretty much synonymous.
Ja, -n
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