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Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.
There appear to be a number of anomalies regarding the speed of movement of the opposing armies in the previous arguments, based on the figures that are being used.

If SP was marching from Bangor down the A5 to London at 20 miles per day it would have taken him about 12 days. By the time that he had heard that Cerialis had left to put down an uprising in Colchester, it would have already been burnt to the ground and Cerialis defeated (not that SP would have been aware of that).

The rebels were only 70 miles away from London yet SP arrived there before them. The implication is that Boudica's army spent days sacking Colchester (possibly correct as they would have had free run of the city even before the final victory at the temple) and then took days to reach London as this was some type of mass migration where whole tribes were leaving their homelands. 

The word "horde" seems to have been interpreted as a slow moving tribal movement rather than a huge army.

This is not reflective of the previous methods of Brythonic fighting which was based on hit and run tactics interspersed with ambushes and full individual warrior type battles and although "wives" may have been there as well (at the final battle) this would have been part of the necessary baggage train for any travelling army; there is no mention of children or families

Interestingly if the rebels took so many days in the sacking, the returning army overwhelmed Cerialis which would indicate that either the sacking was shorter than estimated or that the 9th was ambushed by another set of forces.

The assumption is that this was not an efficient rebel army and therefore was slow travelling is this likely. Again the defeat of Colchester was based on surprise and if the rebel army was as slow as moving at 5 miles a day messages would have reached Colchester that an army was on the way and the population would have attempted to leave - they didn't.

Also a number of forts were captured in this first phase which again indicates a fast moving and effective force which is supported by the fighting styles of 18 years previously based on a horse based culture with a mix of cavalry, chariots and mobile foot soldiers.  

So if the army was fast moving and they left Colchester early enough to defeat the 9th after sacking Colchester why weren't they in London when SP arrived?

Also later SP retreats from London, mindful of the defeat of the 9th that were ambushed and therefore heads West to regroup and fight in another season, yet is forced later to turn and fight because he is being pursued and therefore at the risk of being caught.

If the Brythonic army was slower than the Roman army he could have outrun them and not have taken the risky strategy of fighting against such extreme odds.....

Deryk
Deryk
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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 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
RE: Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand. - by Theoderic - 09-07-2016, 10:09 AM

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