Warrior vs Warrior debates are overused. Time for military peer formation/doctrine debates.

    by chris_alf

    8 Comments

    1. Yes. Shogun 2 players lied to you. the Samurai did not do a Pike and Shot akin to a tercio. They have their own thing.

      No. Nobunaga did not invent a rank volley fire for his teppo-gumi even at Nagashino. More probable are those sohei warrior monks who had a thing for teppo.

    2. Tercio wasn’t exactly a knight formation.

      Knights were used in many western formations, even anatolian.

      But I’ll give it to the tercio as it offers generally better concentration of forces while still being versatile.

      Just remember to pay the soldiers.

    3. LastEsotericist on

      I think the thinner ranks of the ranged units in the Sonae formation could potentially offer more firepower than the Tercio. Being outgunned was eventually what made them obsolete. Then again I think a solid charge could plow right through the Japanese formation with the elite to veteran units that made up prime Tercios. A major factor would be the Sonae including cavalry units but honestly the Tercio is set up so consciously to counter cavalry they’d struggle to make an impact, potentially throwing their lives away early and weakening the unit for the decisive confrontation.

    4. Sonae all the way.

      Its a combined arms formation built on weapon squads cooperating in a smaller scale and thinner ranks but can be scaled up and more flexible.

      However unlike tercio in which the point being supporting the pikes to their line of contact/engagement, sonae is all delivering missile fire while the bow squad covers your reload and the spear squad covers you from cavalry/charges.

    Leave A Reply