They are also skilled in creating, improving, and blessing their own armor with various enchantments. All Paladins are skilled in use of one-handed weapons, heavy armor, shields, as well as protective and restorative magicks. But with the protection and strength of the Paladin's patron, he is sure to triumph over them all. His enemies are numerous - Dragons, Necromancers, Vampires, the undead, or the common bandit just to name a few. A holy warrior devoted to rooting out evil and injustice in Tamriel, he wields significant martial and magical prowess. The Paladin is probably my favourite character. A very fun and fast paced playthrough with some frantic sword&board action, especially on higher difficulties! A great well balanced fighter that I usually experience the main quest, most side quests and Fighters and Mages factions with. It was said that a Greek should never die with a wound in his back.This sort of character is who I usually play first in TES games. Running from a fight was considered cowardly, not just because you lost your nerve, but also because you doomed your mates to a horrible fate.
They would shout encouragement, push against the lines ahead of them and, if necessary, threaten the other soldiers to make sure they kept their minds on the business at hand. But the back line warriors needed to be experienced because they needed to keep all of the other soldiers from running away. The front line fighters needed to be strong because they were slamming headlong into their opponents. It was an interesting practice for hoplite commanders to divide their very best soldiers among the front line and the very last line of their units. If enough of your fellow soldiers lost their courage, your unit would be lost. Each man depended on every other man to hold the formation. It was at this point that most Hoplites would switch to their short sword.
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Formations vanished and chaotic carnage would reign, with soldiers trying to keep themselves alive while killing as many of their opponents as possible. If neither unit gained any definitive advantage for a time, the fighting broke down to a big sloppy melee. The first phalanx to start breaking up usually ended up getting routed and usually massacred. The shoving and stabbing would continue until one of the units started to falter. Only, these rugby players are extremely well armored, and are jabbing long, lethal spears over the top of their shields trying to kill as many of the opposing players as possible. If you've ever seen a rugby scrum, then you get the general idea of phalanx warfare. The two units would crash together and start shoving. A typical Hoplite battle consisted of opposing units charging each other with their shields up. The Greek Hoplites fought primarily with spears. My how Democracy has changed over the years. on their yachts, laughing and chugging boat-drinks thousands of miles away.
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This strikes me as particularly ironic because in modern day warfare it seems like the poor are the ones on the front lines while the wealthy are. These skirmishers were generally only on the outskirts of the battle. The poorer troops were thrown into skirmishing units that were armed with slings, bows and spears and wore light armor. Those with money were the only ones who could afford the horrendously expensive armor and weapons that made a Hoplite warrior. The wealthy made up the majority of the infantry. Greek warriors fought in a phalanx a unit of heavily armored men that fought in rows, with large shields (hoplons), long spears and short swords. Even the poets of the time were tough bastards most of them wrote only of warfare, courage, resolve and beating the snot out of your enemies. Fighting for one's country was an unswerving responsibility among the Greek city-states. Heavily armored and insanely well trained, these soldiers were capable of standing against any and all challengers. There have been few military units as devastating in their time as the Greek phalanx. (A Bit of History According to Strongblade)