Re: Romans and Microarmour (2 replies for the price of 1!)

DracSpy wrote:

> >  2) Well, generally (and I hate to generalize):
> >  Pikes vs. 5mm Gauss Rifles means a loss for the Pike.
> >  Bronze armour won't stop standard small arms.

Most modern body armour won't stop an FFV armour-piercing 5.56 round
either :-/

> >  Phalanxes work well against other spear or sword armed infantry,
but
> >  suck vs. Arty.
> 
> Even a Trebuct(sp?) or Basalisk?

The Romans didn't have trebuchets, but scorpions (ie, bolt-shooting
ballistae) are recorded as having fired through 3-4 men with a single
shot. 

Trebuchets (or other high-trajectory engines) lobbing fragmenting
missiles (silicon blocks or large clay balls with lots of pebbles
imbedded in the clay before burning) seem to have been very effective
against stone fortifications (at least the Moslems fighting Lionheart
thought so, and they were on the recieving end), but I doubt if they
would've worked very well against targets deployed on softer ground
which didn't shatter the missiles properly.

I suspect Kaladom was talking about modern artillery, though :-/

Regards,

Oerjan Ohlson
oerjan.ohlson@telia.com

"Life is like a sewer.
  What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it."
- Hen3ry