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Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.
But if you're starting to imagine this sort of thing then it does indeed throw everything wide open.
throw things wide open? what like take Webster flavoured blinkers off and start looking at what is most likely to have happened both strategically and tactically? If you start to imagine this sort of thing you do end up with sites far closer to the Iceni territory and you snuff out the more distant western and south eastern imaginings pretty swiftly.

However - Paulinus believed he could not defend London with ten thousand men.
Or more likely he thought he couldn't defend it with the flying column of cavalry he had to hand (now that is heresy) instead he decided to return to his ten thousand men digging in up country.

not just a few freebooters from Colchester!
steady I gave a low estimate at 25% that could still be several thousand of your so called free booters, but did they even have boots back then?

I make it 68 miles from Dunstable to Mancetter - at least a week's steady haul for the Britons
OK, if not Mancetter, and that is a wise call, where? Could Milton Keynes be in range? Could Towcester? Could Bannaventa? Could Watfordius Gapius?


Carnival, on the other hand... sounds more like it.
So more Notting Hill than trooping the colour, but still a parade...... :woot:

So why did they want to return home again, with all this 'fun' available?
'Cos the cart was full of goodies and the enemy was up north not down south. Some of the family was reticent to back the firebrands who did Colchester. The firebrands returned with hope to drop off the goodies and get the previously uncommited to join in. Doesn't take a big leap really, it gets rid of a lot of foraging problems, smaller units, known food stores and fertile recruiting grounds, and all on route to intercept the troops returning from Mona. It was going home, it was stoppping off on the way to an intercept, if they managed to locate and bump the ninth, then locating and facing down the bigger force would have been easy work.

why let it all drift away?
You're not you're sending it, with evidence, to go recruit for the big show down on hte way to the intercept in the west.

And how did they know where the Romans would be?
Scouts and the big column was hard to miss.

Unless you imagine Paulinus sitting around for weeks waiting for the Britons to find him
why not? dig in and expand a garrison/depot in the middle of the country. Maybe on top of a "Y" shaped ridge and invite the locals to "come an' 'ave a go if you think you're hard enough".. A couple of weeks would be good to get all parties in place in the numbers required and a good set of ridge top field fortification excavated. I can't imagine it was much less given your 0-10 miles a day scenario.

I was thinking of Paulinus's cavalry
they were too busy acting as a flying column to recce London (see I have no fear of your wrath)

Paulinus would have been unlikely to withdraw
Of course he would, most of his lads are back up Watling Street digging in on a "Y" shaped ridge.

"That's why the Romans send the cavalry onto the ridges to either side of the defile!"
So you'd detach and disperse one of your key assets that far? Possible but not massively secure against a big proportion of the Iceni and too steep a hill to race your cavalry back down to lend support to your beleagued valley bottom PBI.

the area of Dunstable itself was probably woodland at the time.
With a monging great road running through it.......with fields and farms on the low ground.....and maybe a town...and a river.....

(and it's quite a good one, I think)
well you would wouldn't you, after all it's been your theory for several years here on Roman Military Matter.com Yes it's a good site, but not that good.

Must stop replying to your taunts after closing time..... ;-)
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Messages In This Thread
Re: Calling all armchair generals! - by Ensifer - 03-11-2010, 03:13 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-18-2012, 06:26 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 12:02 AM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 02:50 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 05:40 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 02-19-2012, 11:26 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-24-2012, 05:11 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-24-2012, 09:42 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-24-2012, 10:10 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-25-2012, 03:11 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-25-2012, 03:25 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-25-2012, 08:36 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-26-2012, 02:57 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 04-27-2012, 01:50 PM
Re: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by Steve Kaye - 08-05-2012, 02:24 PM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by John1 - 11-06-2014, 12:26 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-07-2014, 02:18 PM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-08-2014, 01:50 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-11-2014, 02:03 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-18-2014, 07:54 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-20-2014, 02:37 AM
Calling all armchair generals! Boudica\'s Last Stand. - by antiochus - 11-25-2014, 08:29 AM

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