A "Pike" is a two handed weapon over 12 feet in length and used by troops in close order in controlled masses. Therefore it was not the weapon of barbarian "wild men" and even less that of levies. Neither would be amenable to the type of training that would be needed to make a pike phalanx effective. Research Group Rules now classify the short and long spear types for infantry, and restrict spear armed bowmen to a short spear only. Back to Table of Contents -- Wargamer's Newsletter # 113 To Wargamer's Newsletter List of Issues To MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1971 by Donald Featherstone. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com