QwertyMIDX

I think the real question here has to be not "were the Galatians like other Celts" but when were they like other celts. Up until the Roman conquest them seem to have retained a generally celtic culture with the raid and mercenary service along with the feast and other shows of largesse being central to the social system. The evolution of more heavily armored military forces seem to have come about a bit early than in other celtic areas, but is not in any way out of synch with the developments seen in say Gaul. Ethnically there was presumably some mixing with the pre-existing populations of Anatolian but it seems more like the Galatians dominated these peoples rather than building a hybrid political and cultural system (there are some examples of this of course exist, such as the aforementioned adoption of native gods into celtic religious practice, but is important to remember that this happened within the context of celtic practices). Linguistically it seems that they retained some form of Celtic language until at least the 4th century AD as reported by Saint Jerome. On the other hand Paul's letter to the Galatians (in the first century AD) treats them the same as other peoples in the region. Presumably the Galatians at some point became Hellenized, Romanized, and Orientalized. It is often argued that the key event in this is the assassination of most of the tetrarchs by Mirathadates IV in 88 BC. In my estimation it is likely that it was a more gradual process, probably broadly bounded by the defeats of the Galatians at the hands of the Rome and Pergamum (189/167 BC) and the period following the Roman annexation in 25 BC. It is also important to remember that the Galatians were likely regularly bolstered by influxs of celts from farther west who were regularly drawn into the east to serve as mercenaries.

caldrail is right, it's important to remember that the pila wasn't a killing weapon, it was a disabling weapon. Once one or two of them were stuck in your shield you pretty much had to ditch the thing. The added weight made it heavy, and the protruding pila made it highly unwieldy (and provided an easy way for your opponent to disarm if you didn't disarm yourself). The effect on enemy morale was also an important factor. Of course Romans weren't the only ones to think of this, across the ancient world javelins of all sorts were used for the same purpose be it by Celts, Samnites, Iberians, or Greek Thureophoroi.