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Teaching your kids about small arms combat and ancient warfare

December 15, 2014 By Ticia 16 Comments

As we learned about ancient history, I knew for the battles to really make sense I need them to learn about small arms combat.  So I set about to teach them about small arms combat.

teaching small arms combat with LEGOS and toys

The first step was to teach them about how to fight effectively with small arms combat.

 

Small Arms Combat with LEGOS

small arms combat tactics

First we looked at why mob fighting isn’t effective.

  • Your army is only as effective as your bravest soldier
  • You do not get the benefit of having friends to fight with you
  • You are only as effective as your most skilled warrior
  • That skilled warrior can easily be cut down by a single lucky shot.

This is of course an over-simplification, but now let’s look at what ancient Greece discovered to be more effective.

small arms combat benefits of the phalanx

Meet the phalanx.  This tactic was created by the Greeks, and improved by the Romans.  A phalanx is row upon row of men who are all fighting together as a unit.  It becomes extremely effective because as one man tires out he can retreat back through the ranks to be replaced by a fresh soldier.

small arms combat generals view of combat

In addition:

  • Men are much less likely to break and run because they would have to turn around and run through their friends.
  • It makes an orderly retreat possible.
  • Traditionally your younger less-experienced troops would be in the front and would fight the most and would have the most energy.
  • The older more experienced (but less energetic) troops would be in the back and would be able to take over as the youth and inexperience fades.
  • Your exposed side is protected by your friend’s shield.
  • The shields can be used together to protect more than you could on your own.

small arms combat disadvantages of a phalanx

But here’s the problems with a phalanx:

  • Your phalanx is only as strong as the width and depth of your phalanx.  So if you only have enough men to make a narrow phalanx, then you’re in trouble.
  • It does not maneuver easily.  If your foe can get around the edge of your phalanx, you are dead. D-E-D dead (reference to obscure gaming movie).

Eventually the Romans created a variation on the phalanx called the maniple.  It was more maneuverable, and eventually allowed them to defeat the Greeks.

The phalanx lasted as a fighting technique for quite a while.  If you notice up through the Civil War you see very similar tactics to the phalanx.  With the onset of World War 1 and heavy artillery and trench warfare we see major shifts in how fighting was done.

Teaching Small Arms combat with toy weapons

If you have young boys you have toy swords.  In our case we have a lot of them.  Especially after we got the duct tape warfare book and the boys were able to make their own weapons.  We suddenly were swimming in toy weapons.

small arms combat advantages of long sword

This fight is between a short sword (which Romans carried, and most near-Eastern civilizations) and a long sword.

You’ll notice the short sword cannot reach the long sword to fight yet, so the long sword is able to attack sooner.  But the long sword is heavier and slower, so the short sword is able to swing more often and will not tire out as easily.

Long swords are effective for giving you reach and is what you most often see in movies.  It makes for nice dramatic fights.

small arms combat benefits of a mace

The mace is a wonderful weapon for smashing and for fighting someone in heavy armor.  Your sword will usually not cut through a suit of plate mail, but a mace or war hammer may well dent that plate enough you’re not getting out of it easily and may well have broken bones.

A mace is also effective at breaking other weapons as it applies blunt force.

small arms combat benefits of a small shield

Fighting with a small shield.

Unlike in the movies, a small shield is to be used to intersperse it between yourself and the other man’s weapon.  It’s not some decorative thing you throw to the side when you want to get serious about fighting.

Notice in this picture Superman is holding the shield and blocking Princess’ sword strike.  He can then push her sword away or use it to try and over-balance her.  A very useful feature on the battle field.

small arms combat benefits of a tower shield

This is approximating a tower shield.  In reality, a tower shield is much bigger on you, but for now, this gives you a good idea of what it is like.

A tower shield provides protection for most of your body, you can hide behind it when you are being shot at, and it makes an effective way to block your enemy’s weapon.

But, a tower shield is heavy.  The thing about carrying that around all day long.  If you are carrying a tower shield you are not very mobile.  You are most likely carrying it and then placing yourself somewhere.  It makes a great defense for an archer.

 

 

So, that’s our super official small arms combat lesson.  It was a lot of fun to do with the kids last spring, and now I’ve got it all official looking so I can make them refer back to it from time to time.

 

I’m linking this up over at All Things Beautiful.

Filed Under: history Tagged With: Ancient Greece, ancient history, ancient Rome, lego history, legos, Mystery of History 1, Mystery of History 2

Comments

  1. Almost Unschoolers says

    December 15, 2014 at 7:47 am

    Excellent lesson! But, I’m thinking you might still have a few more emergency room visits in your future :).

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      December 15, 2014 at 8:07 am

      I’m sure I do. It’s amazing we haven’t had more ER visits already. Quite a miracle from God.

  2. Natalie PlanetSmartyPants says

    December 15, 2014 at 3:19 pm

    Hmm… the way you describe it, there are not a lot of chances for “less experienced warriors” to survive and eventually become more experienced. I love the hands-on way you teach history – certainly a great lesson about warfare techniques!

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      December 17, 2014 at 2:17 pm

      They do have a much lower chance of survival, that’s why old soldiers are rare.

  3. maryanne @ mama smiles says

    December 15, 2014 at 5:43 pm

    This is interesting! I need you to teach my kids, because my pacifist tendencies (pretty extreme) make it hard for me to get into topics like this. Maybe I’ll have DH take over.

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      December 17, 2014 at 2:18 pm

      I’ll be curious to see what comments my husband has when he reads this post. Husbands are great for teaching stuff we’re not as familiar with (I actually learned a lot of this from Jeff).

  4. Marie-Claude Leroux says

    December 16, 2014 at 10:50 am

    You really don’t get much more hands on than this 🙂

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      December 17, 2014 at 2:19 pm

      Not really, or at least not unless you want a couple of hospital visits.

  5. Claire says

    December 17, 2014 at 8:30 am

    This brings back very happy memories of dress up in our home. Not so much anymore unfortunately, but I have a cunning plan…

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      December 17, 2014 at 2:20 pm

      I loved your dress up posts. They were always so much fun to read. I can’t wait to hear about your cunning plan.

  6. Sheila @ BrainPowerBoy says

    January 4, 2015 at 7:49 pm

    Love this post! We are big into LEGO and I can certainly see how my son would think this was a pretty cool way to learn. I am bookmarking it so we can do it together. (also sharing!)

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      January 5, 2015 at 8:30 am

      Thanks!

  7. Theres Just One Mommy says

    January 4, 2015 at 10:10 pm

    I love hands-on teaching methods, and I know the kids had to have fun with this one! We definitely have toy swords/shields here… And I think more than enough Legos to do some of this.

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      January 5, 2015 at 8:30 am

      I discovered it really stuck with my boys when we watched the Hobbit and they were commenting on their tactics.

  8. Vagrant2501 says

    December 13, 2016 at 11:54 pm

    Maniple, not mandible.

    Reply
    • Ticia says

      December 14, 2016 at 7:41 am

      Thank you, I hadn’t known the correct spelling since I learned about it from lectures, and they didn’t take the time to spell maniple.

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Ticia Adventures in Mommydom Hi, I'm Ticia! This is the adventures of my family in life and learning. Follow along with us as we share our adventures. We're having a lot of fun and learning as we go.

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