Between the armor and the shield (which, IIRC, were multiple bullhides thick!), these guys must have been monsters. The Rock wouldn't have done them justice... No wonder they needed a chariot to get around.
Ancient Greek (Mycenaean) tactics seems to have had lightly armed and armored spear fodder supporting individual heroes who were nearly invulnerable to attacks by lesser troops. Tactics and strategery were apparently lacking - the Greeks were never able to properly besiege Troy. The Trojan Horse was apparently a major innovation: a siege tower that got the Greeks over the walls and into Troy.
"Between the armor and the shield (which, IIRC, were multiple bullhides thick!), these guys must have been monsters. The Rock wouldn't have done them justice... No wonder they needed a chariot to get around."
Well, the armor was probably not as heavy as it looks. Like Medieval armor, its weight was distributed over the body and a soldier today carries about 60 lbs of equipment or more anyway. The Shield may have been used more in a resting a position from the cover of which a spear was thrown rather than in the same fashion as, say, a Roman Scutum. At any rate, these battles were apparently carried on by a proffesional class of warrior aristocrats who had the indulgence of time to practise constantly with their gear while the lower classes supported them. The Greek hoplite or early Roman sodlier was primarily a farmer who took up arms when necessary, and so didn't practise ocntinually with them as these people, the Imperial Legions or the Medieval knight did.
"Ancient Greek (Mycenaean) tactics seems to have had lightly armed and armored spear fodder supporting individual heroes who were nearly invulnerable to attacks by lesser troops."
Reading the Illiad I get the impression that most or all of the fighting men were warrior aristocrats. The guys driving the Chariots may have been lower ranking individuals.
"Tactics and strategery were apparently lacking - the Greeks were never able to properly besiege Troy."
I think tactics and strategy are usually not well-developed in warrior societies. They are more generally the tools of soldiers. Warriors fight for individual recognition more than for a general goal. In a soldier, these priorities are reversed.
"The Trojan Horse was apparently a major innovation: a siege tower that got the Greeks over the walls and into Troy."
I agree with you there, and so do a number of scholars.