Is the Bolton shieldwall realistic?

For anyone wondering about the battle of Cannae:
Hannibal had overwheling cavalry, a properly executed phalanx which this is not, equipment that suited the formation which in a medieval inspired setting like got wouldn't work
and lastly they didn't surround their enemy, leaving a chance to escape you prevent people from panicking and out of desperation breaking through your formation.

"When you surround the enemy
Always allow them an escape route.
They must see that there is
An alternative to death."
        —Sun Tzu, The Art of War

I definitely thought it was ridiculous that WUN WUN of all people (giants?) was incapable of just smashing through the shield wall will sheer size. Those little dudes with spears would likely drop their weapons and run, shitting their pants the moment he begin to charge their lines.

"It would turn into a clusterfuck, but the entirety of the fight has been a clusterfuck so that honestly doesn't matter that much." Fucking gold.

SnapJelly im from Macedonia

It's just a show its not the greece phalanx is just drama. lol

"Buy Bitcoin" – Sun Tzu.

This was one of the more dumb scenes in GoT. Skip if battles like this trigger you.

It looks like a phalanx more than a shield war

If they would've backed Stannis' army then they would've won the first time around

I realize that this is a strategic analysis but, look, good theater. The shields and the pikes make for a good visual, especially with the steady advancing and the shouting. It's similar to a zombie plot device. JMHO.

Of course it's not realistic what do you except from a TV serie that has dragons and magic? this video is just retarded

The wildings would need incredible discipline and organization with an officer/leader capable of recognizing what you have described and that the only way out is a concentrated attack on one area. Many men are going to die. This leader is going to have to be very popular with men willing to die for him (the first attackers at the designated weak point are almost just on a suicide mission.) The Boltons are in formation fighting as one component. The wildings are panicked, leaderless and fighting essentially "every man for himself." The situation the wildings are in at the start of the video is hopeless, while I agree with most of what you said, the wildings need a leader to direct them and to fight as one disciplined component to have any chance at a breakout.

intro made me dislike 🙁

Greek Phalanx

you ever heard of hannibal? lol

Are dragons realistic?

Said "clusterfuck" out of nowhere, instant like.

Cut down a few trees, make wun wun a helm and makeshift wooden armour. And give him a tree to act as a club. Formation crushed

Are you dumb? Dragons are not realistic so why whould you disguest about is the Bolton shieldwall realistic

Coming from a huge history nerd…your wrong it could n does work.There have been many "shield n or pike walls in history. In fact the only thing I see little off is they wouldn't need the shield in combat just more pikes. This is exactly what the Macedonian army did in Alexander conquest . Also the same tactic was used later in history which could with the support of early fire arms beat calvary charges. the strongest unit in all of warfare till about the American civil war.

Wildlings have never fought actual battles in large number of any sort and know nothing about warfare. But with that shield wall an actual army would be able to break through.

The giant could have taken the tree to combat them.

no leadership during that chaos

One thing that keeps bugging me is that how did that HUGE pile of bodies was formed in the first place? It makes no sense, that it just was there for Bolton forces to close the gap. More proof that D&D are getting lazy.

When I saw how shallow the formation was I said "no way."

Wun Wun has disappointed me honestly.. I mean come on you're a fucking giant just do something except swinging your hands and moaning.

When did you come back to ze type of shield?

JAJAJAJJAJAJAJAJAJJAJAJAJAJAJJAJAAJ The best fuckin' intro in history xDDD

Yes its real it was in the show and they used it on medieval ages. Idk why this is a video.

Realistically it'd need to be a lot deeper with much longer pikes.

It looks intimidating. And wildlings arent used to seeing these formations. They must have been to scared to push

In a programme where there are Giants, Ice Zombies and Dragons you're worried about a shield wall??

Yep this battle was so unrealistic. First off, Wun Wun could have simply GRABBED the pikes and threw them somewhere and boom giant hole in the shield wall gg boltons you lose. And I'm to lazy to put anything else in so I guess ignore the first off.

Jon Snow is a horrible commander. Slap some armor on the giant, give him a log or a reinforced piece of wood and watch that shield wall fly.

well too bad Jon Snow is a terrible military commander, the chain of command is broken & the wildling are not used to fight as an army.

The things ya said is quite easy to to do if it is situated in videogame; removing fear, self preservation and stuff. But in real life ya might not remember how to break the shield wall at all, fear grips you and you would stutter and fall than break the wall.

They were panicked, no time to think, surprised

Wildlings are untrained warriors, ignorant from battle tactics like that. And if john snow was to lead, they wouldn't receive the orders effectively. Good explanation, I just stated the reason why they didn't do that

If they start attacking one pin point area the opposite side would squish them in its a medieval strategy used to defend against the Vikings (expert close quarters fighters, hard to kill and quick moving) and they couldn't beat it

"if they got up to the shields both sides would have to fight around the shield so it would be an even fight" ummmmm no…… look up the roman phalanx for the answer to why.