Cavalry and improved armor technology is why the phalanx fell out of use in the first place. And no, a phalanx wouldn't be as effective as you imagine against a heavy cavalry charge because with all the shields in the way, you aren't presenting nearly as many spears against the incoming charge.
The horse are armored too aren't they? Spears wouldn't be that effective would they? I'm asking, not trying to bait you. I learned my medieval combat tactics from Braveheart
Yea but I think in reality heavy cavalry was unstoppable until they invented mass archery that was powerful enough to penetrate armor, yea?
Oh, I thought you were being sarcastic. It's hard to judge exactly how military technology evolved in Westeros, but horse barding developed quite a bit slower than human armor, it wasn't until Bannockburn and Crecy that it became obvious how much of a vulnerability the relatively unarmored horse was. Regardless, the momentum of a horse charging straight at a braced pike would cause the pike to punch through any armor a horse was capable of carrying. A cavalry force simply could not charge a pike hedge. Cavalry is the reason pikes stayed in common usage until the beginning of the 18th century when firearms finally replaced them.
Against a disciplined army that doesn't break or get baited out of position they were quite stoppable.
If Littlefinger would've shown up early with the Knights of the Vale, and Ramsay knew they were there, he never would've left the damn castle, and it would've taken them months, if not years, to retake Winterfell, plus cost them a shit ton of men. People keep saying that Sansa is dumb for not telling Jon about Littlefinger coming to help, but it was actually a brilliant tactical move. It got Ramsay and his entire army outside of the castle walls because Ramsay didn't think there was any real threat. Plus, Sansa gets the added bonus of having thousands of wildlings killed in the process (you know, the north's enemy for centuries). Just because Jon befriended the Wildlings, doesn't mean Sansa did. People who think Sansa is stupid need to get a fucking clue. The only reason the siege on her old home worked was because of her intelligence.
SHE WAS NOT IN CONTACT WITH LF, SHE SENT ONE NOTE AND DID NOT EXPECT HIM TO ACTUALLY FOLLOW THROUGH AND SHOW UP. TO SAY ANYTHING WOULD BE IRRESPONSIBLE BECAUSE HE WOULD THEN BE COUNTING ON THE REINFORCEMENTS
if you watch the behind the scenes, he does that scene for 10hours, i'm sure after hour 3, he's just slipping, and that's probably what the director was looking for, the "accidental" hit
