Wicky Posted December 27, 2016 Share Posted December 27, 2016 (edited) http://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/proginfo/2016/50/time-commanders http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b084zh3v Shame they aren't using CM for battling it out some WW2 battles Edited December 27, 2016 by Wicky 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 Never heard of the show. My money is not on the wrestlers as Carthaginians. If they beat the team of historical gamers, then that would not only be a huge upset but a crushing blow to the historical gamers' morale and maybe even more. Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Emrys Posted December 31, 2016 Share Posted December 31, 2016 Well you never know, these particular wrestlers might also be military history buffs. The fact that they are wrestlers might just be incidental.... Although I wouldn't put a lot of money on that. Michael 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
General Jack Ripper Posted January 1, 2017 Share Posted January 1, 2017 Wow, I didn't know the show had come back for another series! I caught the first two, and they were a good source of some info and entertainment. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gautrek Posted January 18, 2017 Share Posted January 18, 2017 I can't get over the guy who has had the sex change. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted February 22, 2017 Share Posted February 22, 2017 (edited) Found this useful review of it on a site for miniature wargaming called Too Fat Lardies, where I'd finally tracked down some brilliant ways I'd seen briefly before of depicting dug-in infantry. Wanted it to help the war effort of brothers and friends for Bolt Action, in which I dabble when able to get to a shop to play. What I saw of the show in an embedded clip at too Fat Lardies both excited and horrified me. The computer game used looked cool to me, and I felt myself being almost inexorably sucked in (Tanks? What tanks?) by my considerable interest in warfare of the period, but the way the battle was run at a simply insane tempo didn't sit at well with me. It more nearly resembled a CIC on speed than anything remotely approximating how command was really exercised in the period. Even employing the expected "but this is television" argument seems woefully inadequate to justify what appeared to be manic behavior in what passed for the command center. Always loved the command tent (with a simple map--all they had--and some troop markers) for planning or the leader perched on a hilltop on horseback surrounded by staff and messengers. Decades back, I played a fair amount of DBA (De Bellis Antiquitatis), which I now understand to be a relatively simple way to play Ancients. Compared to what I saw on that "Time Commanders" segment, DBA was high art. Ancient warfare operated, save maybe at the crisis point, at a far slower tempo than the "Go, Speed Racer!" behavior I saw. Sure, skirmishers could skitter about the battlefield if need be, and light infantry was fairly agile, too, but the heavy line infantry simply didn't move that way. Now, I'm willing to concede a need for time compression on battles which could and did rage all day, but what I saw was ludicrous. I think it's great they have some historians and military experts there to coach and comment. That a foodie is doing such a credible job is host is amazing, but I've just finished watching "The Victorian Slum," also hosted by a foodie! Thought he did very well on a most informative (but they forgot Victorian-Edwardian crime) and insight developing show. Had I not read a review stating this, wouldn't have thought anything of the matter. Do foodies make good hosts because they're quick on their feet with adapting to and describing the ever changing nature of cuisine and what's hot? In a sense, there's not a whole lot of difference over getting excited about the wonders of umame or the critical importance and stalwart behavior of the Roman triarii. Shall watch the first episode of "Time Commanders" straight through and see how that sits. Meanwhile, perhaps I'll dream happy dreams of a season devoted to galley warfare! Hadn't gotten to see the new "Ben Hur," but it's probably a lot closer to the reality of galley warfare and relatively crude ship environment than was the stylized and grand Charlton Heston version. I see the film makers have sacrificed leather gaskets around the oar holes, though, doubtless for cinematic reasons. Yardarms would've been lowered at the least, and generally masts, yards and sails would've been left ashore, for every pound less was of vital assistance to the rowers upon whom all mobility then depended, for they were the human engines that drove the galleys. Regards, John Kettler Edited February 22, 2017 by John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 Okay. I'm hooked. Now that I've been able to watch the entire battle (Zama), rather than the trailer, I find myself very much engaged and engrossed. Fascinating to watch, and I always enjoy Mike Lhoades, a combination of encyclopedic weapon knowledge and boundless enthusiasm. The weapon demonstrations made some telling points, but the guy doing the slinging would probably he hungry since Balearic slingers as children were reported to have had to hit their bread in order to be allowed to consume it. Slingers could and did hurl stones (including for lunch), but far nastier was the purpose made sling projectile aka sling bullet. Dr. Nussbacher knows her stuff, and isn't shy about exhibiting it. The pace I noticed in the trailer was greatly reduced, greatly improving credibility. Would've like to have seen messengers galloping off to the various formations, and I think leader fatalities should result in no further orders coming from them. One thing not explained was how the not-pilum-equipped Carthaginian heavy infantry dealt with the Romans who were. Saw some real martial idiocy on exhibit, too. Here are a couple of videos covering things brought up during the episode. How to wield the gladius (Part 1) History and use of the sling in ancient warfare Regards, John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted February 24, 2017 Share Posted February 24, 2017 (edited) So where were the flaming pigs of war? BTW - Wouldn't a Rome 2 TW site be a better place for this? All a bit early for Battlefront really. Edited February 24, 2017 by Sgt.Squarehead 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 (edited) Sgt.Squarehead, Considering the second battle in the first season was Waterloo, and they have pretty much any historic battle from which to choose, I'd say there's a high likelihood of WW II showing up. Besides, this is the GDF--the place for all that other stuff! Never played any of the Rome computer games, but I have played (and own in a quantumn state) AH's Caesar at Alesia https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/1430/caesar-alesia and before that, the grueling The Siege of Jerusalem A.D. 70, as originally released rather spare form in 1976 by Historical Perspectives, not AH's rework. https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/33521/siege-jerusalem-70-d When AH brought demo versions of their to a game con in Los Angeles I had to point out that the design had totally wrong ballista art. Ancient artillery and siege engines are my thing, you see. Don't know if they were ever fixed. Heavy ballista (don't recall shot weight) from NOVA's "Building the Impossible" had correct core features, but it needed work in a bunch of areas, such as vital reinforcing iron plates, without which the right side vertical frame cracked on the third shot! The heavy ballista (throwing a 60 kg stone shot) couldn't take down walls, but it could and did smash battlements and wreak all manner of other havoc just fine. Image Credit : NOVA This is the sort of idiotic thing those great military history experts at AH chose. Great for bowling, but precious little else. Image Credit: Edwin Tunis via legion xxiv.org (which ought to know better than to put this ridiculous thing the re-enactor unit's quite serious, and intended to educate, site). Regards, John Kettler Edited March 9, 2017 by John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sgt.Squarehead Posted March 9, 2017 Share Posted March 9, 2017 (edited) Time Commanders was created in conjunction with the Total War team: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Commanders I have most of the Total War titles.....They're OK. Better than most, not as good as some, if you know what I mean. Edited March 9, 2017 by Sgt.Squarehead 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Kettler Posted March 18, 2017 Share Posted March 18, 2017 (edited) Wish to note that the full episodes (not the dreadful blurry 41 minute ersatz versions one poster has) are here. Unfortunately, I've just found the statement, for Fred Santos's channel that is, applies only to the first three episodes of Season 1. Just watched the Battle of Challons (Rome vs the Huns), and I have huge issues with the mobility of the onagers. We aren't talking about the 4-pounder "leather guns" of Gustavus Adolphus here, but great hulking beasts. A small reconstruction by Sir Ralph Payne Gallwey weighed a ton (2K pounds; not speaking figuratively here), and it was throwing a relatively small 8-pound stone. The length of the frame isn't much greater than that of a man, either, so just imagine how the weight would scale. Bottom line? You set these up where you could before the battle and fought from there. Notice those round thingies aren't present, either. The recoil forces would exert terrible stress on same and axles with every shot. This guy solved the problem by using a complete iron axle, something even Napoleonic artillery lacked. Would further observe that a small onager model about the span of my hand fully rates the kicking moniker of this one-armed beast. Image Credit: Sir Ralph Payne Gallwey's The Crossbow (shortened title, Public Domain) via Wikimedia Commons Armed with a number of discoveries made after the above reconstruction, you wind up with this, which conveniently has a figure with it. Image Credit: Patrick Roney via Flickr Regards, John Kettler Edited March 18, 2017 by John Kettler 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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