Have to agree with the others here Neb. Most formations in early warfare were to protect your distance fighters, catapults, archers, slingers etc etc.
The advantage of being first to fire meant fewer to mop out later or simply keep a defender prone in position so sappers could undermine walls.
The idea with distance warfare is not to engage the enemy mano e mano but to use them behind the protection of your own fighters.
Warfare is pretty much different from one on one fighting. A good fighter as we see them from DnD campaigns, the sole walking armour guy could probably beat any single infantryman without problem, but take ten fighters vs ten infantry man and you have suddenly ten fighters vs a unit
