Pike Postures - Shouldersp

This is the posture used when moving except when close to the enemy. The pike is rested on the shoulder, hence the name of the posture. You can keep the posture for quite a while. if you were going to be moving for a while you would move to shoulder as soon as you had opened enough space between the ranks. Howevre this wasn't the daily march posture when the armies were not expecting abattle, in those cases the pikes would be loaded on the baggage carts.

Apart from having the middle of the pike resting on the shoulder the rest of the posture is the same as order, although if you were walking the feet would be moving. The left hand is resting on the pommel of the sword keeping it from tripping you up.

In this posture there would be about six feet between ranks so the pike didn't trip up the rank in front of you. The butt of the pike would only be about five feet in front of the pikeman and about six inches or so off the ground. When stopped it can be rested on the ground to take some of the weight off the shoulder.

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last update 18:52 27 Aug 01