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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mmadsen" data-source="post: 260150" data-attributes="member: 1645">When I said, "Even without magic, none of the reasons for formation fighting exist in D&D," Crothian asked me to explain.Well, what are the real-world reasons for fighting in formation?  Why not just go with a mob?  Or why not go with a very loose formation, the kind that won't get taken out by magical artillery?You want a tight formation, because that puts more of your soldiers in the same area against fewer of the enemy's soldiers.  Even in D&D this helps, because pitting 10 of your guys against 5 of his means you kill all 5 of his guys quickly, only suffering a few wounds in return.  Real-life formations were often tighter than one man per five feet, more like one man per three feet, but that's not the end of the world.  It was an advantage for gladius-wielding legions against broadsword-swinging barbarians though.  They could get 2-to-1 odds at the line.OK, so we know why we want our units in tight, but why some strict formation and not a mob?  Real-life formations made extensive use of large shields.  Someone pointed out that D&D archers can be quite lethal, but in real life, a wall of interlocked shields keeps out most arrows and javelins.  It also keeps out most melee spear attacks.  It only works to the front and left though, which explains why troops would drift to the right -- each guy wanted to get behind his comrade's shield -- and why flanking is so important.  What does flanking (en masse, not 2-on-1, as in small-scale D&D combat) get you in D&D?  Nothing much.  What does breaking through the line get you in D&D?  Nothing much.  Either of those situations would open up soldiers to deadly attacks in real-life mass combat and would be enough to rout troops -- leading the whole unit to get cut down by skirmishers and light cavalry as they threw down their heavy shields and ran.Even without a wall of shields, formations are important, because real-life soldiers can't fight well through a 360-degree arc, and they certainly can't communicate to every other soldier their own intentions, who should go where, etc.  In the chaos, each soldier needs to know where his comrades are, where they're going, who's got his flanks, etc.  They're not all heroic, driven PCs with a player's bird's-eye view of the battle.</blockquote>

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