Phalangites were professional soldiers, and were among the first troops ever to be drilled, thereby allowing them to execute complex manoeuvres well beyond the reach of most other armies. They fought packed in a close rectangular formation, typically eight men deep, with a leader at the head of each column and a secondary leader in the middle, so that the back rows could move off to the sides if more frontage was needed.
Each phalangite carried as his primary weapon a sarissa, a double-pointed pike over 6m (18 feet) in length. Before a battle the sarissa were carried in two pieces and then slid together when they were being used. At close range such large weapons were of little use, but an intact phalanx could easily keep its enemies at a distance; the weapons of the first five rows of men all projected beyond the front of the formation, so that there were more spearpoints than available targets at any given time. The secondary weapon was a short sword.
The Macedonian phalanx was not very different from the Hoplite phalanx of other Greeks states, save it was better trained, armed with the sarissa enabling it to outreach its competitors and stave off enemy cavalry, and wore far lighter armour enabling longer endurance and long fast forced marches, including the ability to sprint to close and overwhelm opposing positions and archers.
NEW
This is a versatile sprue for bulking out a unit for Saga, WAB, Swordpoint or any other ancients game that uses 28mm figures.