The Samnite Army

The Samnites had no military tradition of their own: they were a peace-loving people, who were concerned with prosperity and good harvests over success in war. Yet from nothing, a handful of men created a battle-winning force that restored the kingdom of Veracia.

The Samnite Pike-Block

Key in the Samnite strategy was the use of the pike-block. Each soldier was armed with a mass produced helmet, little more than a brass bowl, a large round wooden shield covered with a layer of beaten bronze, a pair of bronze greaves and an eighteen-foot pike made of ash. All this equipment could be produced quickly and then supplied to reinforcements with very little trouble.

Each soldier had his shield strapped to his arm, allowing him to wield the long pike with less difficulty. The first three to five ranks of the pike block would aim their pikes to the front, creating a impenetrable hedge of spikes in front of a wall of shields. The remaining ranks added depth to the formation and allowed it to push forward. The pike block, extremely strong to the front but slow-moving and vulnerable on the flanks, formed the basis of the Samnite line.

Cavalry

While the pike blocks could pin the enemy line, forcing them into a battle of attrition and wearing them down, they could not deliver a decisive blow. That task fell to the cavalry, a mix of foreign troops and native Samnites. The distinction between heavy and light cavalry was reduced: all were expected to scout, skirmish and charge home with equal skill. Most carried lances and wore little armour: they aimed not to fight in the midst of the enemy, but to shatter them with a charge.

The Allied Contingents

The Samnite army also relied on large contingents of mercenaries to make up for deficiencies in their own organisation. Other troops, fighting in looser formations, were needed to guard the flanks of the pike blocks. The three main groups of mercenaries used were spearmen from Mekarus, lightly-armoured but carrying a large shield and a short barbed spear, barbarian tribesmen armed with whatever they could lay their hands on and Thessalonian swordsmen in chainmail. The Veracians provided contingents for these battles, initially small but growing much larger after the free states around Pellenore returned to the fold.