Unit Browser for RTR: Imperium Surrectum

Short description

These Macedonian-style phalangites have replaced the Hoplites in the Boiotian army for good and are a match for most other pikemen.

Description

These Macedonian-style phalangites have replaced the Hoplites in the Boiotian army for good and are a match for most other pikemen.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

In 245 BC the Boiotian League, long courted by the Achaians to join in their war(s) against the Aitolians, finally gave in: its leaders agreed to an alliance with the Achaian League and declared war on the Aitolian League. While the Boiotians prepared their forces for a campaign to the West, they celebrated the Pamboiotia, their national festival, during which a sacred truce forbade them to fight (Polyb. IV, 3, 5; with Post 2013, p. 85). The Aitolians, however, thought little of the holy nature of the festival and invaded the country with rapid speed. The shocked Boiotians gathered their forces as quickly as possible and met their foes at Chaironeia (Polyb. XX, 4, 4-6). Under the command of the Boiotarch, Abaiokritos, they were crushed and routed, and over a thousand men were killed (Plut. Aratos 16, 1).

The humiliation of Chaironeia in 245 BC forced the Boiotians to become more or less vassals of the Aitolian League, support their military forces, and grant them free passage through their territory (Post 2013, p. 87). The leading politicians of Boiotia saw one of the main reasons for the defeat in the equipment of their soldiers. While some of the Hoplites had been re-armed with the Thureos shields in the preceding decades, the heavy infantry had been too slow to catch up with the Aitolian skirmishers and their phalanx, as disciplined as it was, proved too weak to break up the Aitolian main battle line. Thus, the Boiotan nobility looked north: the Macedonians had proven several times that the Aitolians could in fact be defeated in battle, and - together with the cavalry - the Macedonian Phalanx seemed to have been the main reason for their successes.

At some point between the defeat at Chaironeia in 245 BC and the new orientation in foreign policy towards Macedon in 237 BC, the Boiotian League reformed its army. The main reform was the replacement of the traditional Hoplite force and part of the Thureophoroi with Macedonian-style phalangites. Shortly after the reform, the League also passed a law to hire military instructors for each member city in order to ensure that its soldiers were sufficiently well-trained (Roesch, Etudes 1982, pp. 307-54). Thus, the traditions of Boiotia’s Hoplites lived on in its pikemen.

Spotting the club of Herakles on their large, red Pelte shields, these men are showing the enemy that they fear no one. Further protected by greaves, Konos helmets and reinforced Linothorakes, they are equipped with the best outfit available. Their main strength, however, lies in their long Sarissa pikes, which hold the opponent at bay and form a natural, forest-like shield against missiles. Trained in the way of the famous Macedonian Chalkaspides, they are the most important unit in the newly reformed Boiotian army.