Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

The battle line was roughly divided into three types - spearmen against spearmen, sword and shield against sword and shield, and spearmen against sword and shield. The secondary troops of both sides were spearmen, and the elite troops also chose the combination of shields and one-handed weapons.

At the beginning, the Germans could still take advantage of their impact and explosive power, but as time went on, they found that something was wrong - it seemed that the Romans' weapons and equipment were designed to restrict them.

Their spearmen's spears were generally shorter, about three meters long. Although they were enough, the Germans found that the Romans' spears were just over four meters long, just like their weapons were longer.

The battlefield was not a duel, and there was no room for evasion. To put it bluntly, the battle between ordinary spearmen was just stabbing each other, and the weapons were half a meter shorter, which was a fatal problem. When facing each other, the Roman spearmen often had a significant advantage, and the Germans could only passively take the beating.

They didn't expect Orwell to throw out the pikemen, a type of soldier rarely used by the Romans, so they didn't make any related plans. The situation was quite passive for a while. The pikemen couldn't be counted on. Harold knew this very well, so he could only let them delay the time and look for opportunities to win from the heavy infantry or the flanks of the battlefield.

But the situation of the Germans in these two battlefields was not optimistic, because they were still targeted everywhere.

Influenced by the invasion of the Vikings, the locals also learned some of the Vikings' military concepts, such as the heavy infantry shield wall advancement. This trick is generally quite useful, because it can not only play the physical advantages of the Germans, but also play a certain degree of discipline advantage, but the Romans have more experience in playing heavy infantry push than them.

The imaginary enemy of their shield wall is generally light or medium infantry, and they have not fully considered the situation when dealing with heavy infantry. After all, their enemies are mainly light infantry with poor quality. It is better to spend time studying and dealing with a few heavy infantry than to have a broader solution.

Their shields are generally smaller in area, while their weapons are relatively larger. The English mainly use long swords, while the Vikings mainly use axes. Both weapons are not as convenient as the Roman short sword when pushing in a phalanx.

It is quite difficult to swing weapons in a dense formation. Once the density of soldiers is reduced, the quality will be insufficient, and it will suffer when pushing in close, which makes the German army a bit of a dilemma.

The Roman short sword is not limited by metallurgical technology, but is consciously designed to be so short, because this length is suitable for pushing and fighting between phalanxes.

The Roman short sword is mainly used for stabbing, and it does not require much space to use. Whether it is a long sword or an axe, it is mainly used for slashing, which is a bit difficult to use in such an overly narrow scene.

They have a larger shield to cover their bodies, and hide their arm movements under the shield so that the opponent can't see clearly. When they seize the opportunity, they will stab the short sword from under the shield, directly hitting the vital point and causing fatal damage to the opponent.

The war experience accumulated by the Romans through countless wars over the years is not useless, and Orville, the time traveler, has a more active mind. He knows how to restrain the Germanic soldiers. Since he has determined that the enemy is the Germanic, he will build weapons completely according to the enemy's arms and weapons and equipment.

Facing such an enemy, the Germans do not find it difficult but strange. They are better at short-term waves. They have excellent explosive power but lack endurance and stamina. This is a common problem of barbarian or semi-barbarian soldiers.

As the battle time drags on, this advantage gradually turns into a disadvantage. Some soldiers' physical fitness and endurance begin to be unable to bear it little by little.

Harold Godwinson, who is in the rear as the commander-in-chief, did not immediately order the Frankish cavalry to go up, but calmly ordered the soldiers to raise a flag.

It was a large flag with a griffin, which looked quite impressive. After the soldiers fighting at the forefront of the war found that the flag was raised, they gradually understood.

Seeing this, the officer who led the soldiers on the left wing of the army began to order the soldiers to retreat.

The soldiers' fighting spirit was somewhat loosened, and of course they hurriedly began to retreat after hearing the retreat order issued by the combat commander.

The Germans were not organized to retreat in an orderly manner, so this retreat naturally turned into a rout, and the German left wing quickly collapsed.

This was a deliberate tactic by Harold. To put it bluntly, this was a gamble by a skilled and bold person, betting that the Romans would be impulsive and abandon their strict formation to pursue the retreating Germans. Even if the Romans had a high level of military literacy, this was not impossible. Even Caesar and other military talents who shocked the world had encountered this problem, not to mention the soldiers under Orville.

Once their formation was broken, the reserve troops hidden in the dark would rush forward to hold back the pursuing Romans, and then the cavalry that the Germans were proud of would come into play. They could rush into the interior of the Roman position through the gap, and the rest would be much easier - either the Germans would be defeated in the center, or the Romans would hold their ground and defeat the Germans. Harold naturally felt that the former was more likely, so he decided to bet on it this time.

However, as the war progressed, what happened was not as smooth and natural as Harold expected. On the contrary, the Romans did not fall into the trap and rush down the hillside. Instead, they still maintained a tight formation, ready to resist the enemy's attack at any time.

This immediately made Harold's heart sink to the bottom. He knew that he had probably made a wrong bet this time. The Romans were not so easily fooled. Orwell was not only a very cautious person, but also had a good ability to restrain his subordinates. No soldier left his post.

This was not because Orwell was very strict in military discipline, but more because he was on guard in advance, so he repeatedly emphasized to the soldiers not to leave their posts.

Maybe he didn't know how to lead the troops to fight correctly, but he knew this day in history and how the Battle of Hastings was fought specifically.

Generally speaking, he took Harold's script as the defender, while Harold took William the Conqueror's script as the attacker.

When William the Conqueror faced Harold, the Breton army on the left wing also retreated, but the Anglo-Saxon army was not so obedient.

They ignored orders and left the formation to chase the Breton army. Without the formation cover, they faced the Norman cavalry attack directly.

This was one of the most threatening cavalry forces in early and middle medieval Europe. When it faced infantry without formation, the result was obvious.