Editing Hoplite (section)

== Greek Weapons and Tactics ==
Hoplites got their name from the Hoplon, a round wooden [[shield]] with a bronze covering about a meter in diameter. Their main weapons were a three meter long [[spear]], a short [[sword]], and a dagger. Hoplites usually wore bronze [[helmet]]s and had breastplates made of leather, padded linen or bronze, as well as having grieves and bracers. Poorer hoplites had lower quality armor than their better off counterparts.

Hoplites fought in tight square formations called phalanxes, each man protecting the other two guys to his side while being highly resistant to the projectiles since the greeks did not have longbows or high powered crossbows that were man portable. Running into a phalanx meant running into a wall of spears held by well defended guys, and was generally considered suicide unless you were in a bigger Phalanx. In phalanx on phalanx fights, they would ram into each other until one side broke formation either through casualties or a few guys panicking and deciding to run away. If that happened the rest of them would very soon run away as quickly themselves as possible and they would have lost. That was how most battles ended and usually one side broke before more than 10% losses were inflicted. As such two most important qualities for hoplites are discipline and fortitude.