• Norgur@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      but he had the power of “making it really bright” on his side, and we all know that this is the achilles heel of all pikemen everywhere!

      • Hank@kbin.social
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        1 year ago

        Aren’t Uruk Hai really sensible to light? So the riders had vision, the high ground, morale and momentum on their side.

        • Norgur@kbin.social
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          1 year ago

          Pikes are pushed against/into the ground, so neither morale nor momentum will do you any good against them. Discomforting the pikemen will also not do anything, since pikes and their use in formations are designed for that to happen. If you get charged by a fuckton of cavalry, you are bound to flinch anyway and you weren’t supposed to actually do anything with the pike but push it into the ground if you were charged. The momentum is provided by courtesy of the attacker. So the downhill movement and the momentum are a disadvantage against pikes.

          And I’m not even counting the fact that horses will not charge walls of spiky things. They are living beings with a mind of their own. A fact that we tend to forget nowadays. But I’m willing to let that one slide, perhaps there was some super special sauce training only known to the horse freaks of Rohan that made them go through with the charge.

        • SatanicNotMessianic@lemmy.ml
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          1 year ago

          The Uruk-hai were more tolerant of daylight than other orcs. I think it was mentioned a couple of times by the fellowship folks, and there was also a scene when they had captured Merry and Pippin and had to keep running day and night. The commander made fun of the others for being weaker against the daylight.

          Also, cavalry can generally defeat a pole arm formation by flanking and using a combined arms operation. They need projectile weapons (arrows/muskets/cannon…) or infantry to keep the pikemen engaged. If the pole arm unit forms a square, it’s largely protected against cavalry but has increased vulnerability to missile weapons and is fairly immobile.

          Or just send in the ents.

      • DavidGarcia@feddit.nl
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        1 year ago

        obviously Saruman the 4D-chess-mover predicted that Gandalf would flank them with cavalry and that’s why he brought pikemen to a siege

    • utopologist [any]@hexbear.net
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      1 year ago

      We need to resist the hegemony of the wizards, these guys clearly have no business making decisions for the rest of Middle-earth

      • uralsolo [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        1 year ago

        It makes sense narratively and tactically that he timed his charge with the sun creeping over the hill so that the orcs were blinded by it though.