How many spears can fit in one pincushion

Question

In The Riddle of Steel on page 77 it notes that the maximum number of combatants that can surround a single opponent is three, except "groups of spearmen and the like, who may gather tightly together and thrust". The text nowhere mentions a limit to the number of spear-or-similar armed opponents who can surround one person.

How many spear-fighters can effectively attack a human-sized target at once? Failing a RAW-based answer, an answer based on historical accounts of the reality of spear fighting would certainly be in the spirit of the game.

Answer 1

I would say that it depends on the length of the spear. A unit using sarisa would be far more formidable than a unit using Hasta. Halberds would be in the middle but are used quiet differently from spears. Pikes again would be formidable to face as a single fighter against a unit. If said fighter was surrounded, the situation is even worst.

So, let's say your "spear" is 5 meters long. You have a circle of circumference of 2 * pi * 5 = 31.4. Assuming that a human (with amour) takes a "face" of .3 meters (sideways posture), you have 31.4/.3 = 104 people around your lone surrounded (and soon to be very dead) fighter.

Or, as Sean Cheshire says: If we use a single handed spear, then the calculation is 2 * pi * 2 / .3 = 41 people - still enough to do a lot of damage.

Technically, you could have any number of spheres (or an ovoid for more precision) of spears. From that point of view, the tip of the spear is the limiting factor. Those all need is an approximation of the dimensions of the target (minus 3/5 cm to allow for lethal penetration of each tip). This would depend on the shape of the tip, and how tightly you could pack them -- round tips are worst in this regard than square ones. This would massively increase the amount of fighters utterly surrounding the lone wolf.

Note 1: I would give a small penalty to the surrounding fighters as they are going to hinder each other a little (depending on training) but the final result is still going to be same: dead lone wolf.

Note 2: Combat in more than 3-dimensions is left as an exercise to the reader.

Answer 2

How many spear-fighters can effectively attack a human-sized target at once?

More than it takes to kill any human-sized target that can be killed with spears at all.

Historically, spears were used either as (short) distance weapons, as a protection against cavalry charges, or in formations such as the Phalanx, where keeping the formation's (usually linear) shape was of paramount importance.

Answer 3

I first tried using 28mm miniatures to test this for you. I managed to get 9 spearmen to stab a single other 28mm miniature, but I had to take into account the width of the bases (which are larger than the size of a real man). I tried again with 1/72 miniatures and managed to get 11 spearmen to stab the same guy, but they had medieval pikes (1.5 times the size of the figure).

Historically a single spear thrust normally took down an unarmored foe, but in cases where a lot of spears were involved – i.e. a Phalanx – up to 4 or 5 guys could be spearing the same opponent simultaneously. This could of course increase should the foe be mounted; I have read, albeit in a fictional novel, that a horseman can be speared by a dozen men at one time.

Of course trying to thrust a spear when you have a warrior either side of you huddling around the same target would hinder your aim, strength and probably stability as Sadathrion said.

In LARP I've only ever seen 4 or 5 people effectively attack the same player. Anything past that and weapons start striking each other or the players start to get in each other's way.