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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ulrick" data-source="post: 196928" data-attributes="member: 775">SWEET.And some of those similarities I shudder at when compared to the things that are going on here in the United States.In my campaign setting I have an empire that Balkanized (sp?) because they didn't learn from the mistakes of past Empires.  It has a very much "decline of Rome" sort of feeling.When looking at history, I'm always fascinated at how Empires--seemingly unbeatable, collapse.  And soon "barbarians are at the gate."Back to topic:When designing the countries and realms of my campaign world, I often look at armies of ancient and medieval times and see what I can use.  For instance, I admire the way the Roman Legions fought using shield walls and the gladius'.  Yet I also admire the Swiss Pikemen.  So I combined the two.  This balkanized empire that I mentioned used med. infantry as its main fighting unit.  They roamed the battlefield in tight phalanxes with tower shields. The tower shields had a hole or two in its center or side for long spears or pikes to slid though--obviously the hole would be carve to fit the spearhead.  And it could be used an arrow slit as well.I'm just picturing a large group of soldiers hunched up inside a "dome" of tower shields, with spears poking out this way and that, while barbarian infantry and cavalry circle trying to figure out what to do.Of course, if the barbarians had a spell caster with fireball it'd be over right quick...And yes, there are other flaws with this approach, and I would consider the "dome formation" a last ditch effort...similar to what the Spartans did in the movie "The 300 Spartans."  But I think they'd take a lot of enemies down with them.Ulrick</blockquote>

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