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Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.
"I am not sure that you have tackled the second question, why the wives were there in the first place, other than to say that word had gone out 'to mass as large a force as possible to deal with and witness the battle'. " Ren

I think this is a question for all interpretations of the campaign, this is the campaign led by a woman, Dio claims there are women in the ranks so we have a picture of a society where there was no gender separation of roles in combat maybe something the Romans were advocating against. So were they wives and family or was it actually an "army" with a fundamental different gender and age profile to that which the Romans had encountered before.

Another scenario that works for both paradistas and non-paradistas is that logistic roles were taken on by women and children.

Another scenario is that the campaign was seen to be over and the final conflagration was going to be such a walk over so the whole population came to watch the events unfold as a cultural experience, the vengeance for the Druids, and to make the most of reaping the loot rewards of the day or to simply have a good knees up before and after the intended smiteing of the foreigners defileing home and religion.

I originally thought about this it was 2011 whilst sandwiched between the burning horizons of Peckham, Deptford and Woolwich, during the White Goods Riots. The age and gender profile that night were very "inclusive". The same occurred to me tonight watching Paris do it's civil disobedience thing with cobbles and torches, civil risings do have an age and gender profile that is not the military norm. I suspect with 61AD we are looking at a civil rising not a military campaign.

It's an interesting topic but not a CS specific one. I'm pretty sure it was a new model army out looking for vengeance.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vxqWdSOVI9U

"a month or two at best"  - Andrew
I agree that works for me but Appleby and Marix-Evans are working on the basis of days or hours to contact.

 "you only need 'mustering points' if you are moving the campaign up into the Midlands" - Andrew
Disagree certainly for Paulinus to bring in the II and other units would have required a mustering point. In the case of the Brits, any column (parade) of the speculated numbers would have needed a point for the vanguard to stop and then wait a couple of days for the rear end of the same moving column to catch up even if they were moving at the same pace as the lead units. How many hours would it take for a single column of disciplined men to pass an individual point, multiply that many times for numbers, slow it for non-military personnel and throw in time for scouring the landscape for food and loot. It would be days......

"sources describe, which features large field battles" - Andrew
that makes for an easy narrative and comprehension this allows the drama of a single action in a classic narrative standard with clearly defined characters and characteristics and virtues, it's like watching a war film from the 50's. I think the texts describe something else in terms of Paulinus' movement to and from London with roving bands to dodge this does not suggest a singular massive entity to me.

"Going out en masse in a great procession with wives and wagons to confront the enemy in their 'fortified position' certainly would not."  -Andrew  
Take a compressed version of Vietnam as a bad example, VC engages with multiple small actions of attrition, ends with ARVN sending tank columns into Saigon, asymmetrical warfare can evolve into big masses if successful enough, ok timeline very different but what starts as a relatively small force getting big wins against soft targets advances into a mass out in the open overwhelming the former strong man, only this time Bou's ARVN didn't take Saigon, it's still there at the head of the Nene occupied by  the traces of Roman field fortifications and a huge memorial structure.

"various candidate sites put forward on this thread have suggested all of the above" -Andrew
LIST THEM, for each of the candidate sites show me a camp or series of suitable camps  in the vicinity of the candidate battle site. I honestly haven't seen that level of  precision from most of the candidates. Most wave vaguely at a field over there or show no recognition that a huge group would be bedding down for more than a few hours pre-contact. Steve looks at this best by working from logistics.
You have to find places on either side of the proposed site with the scope to accommodate the swords of 1000's of men, women and children then over the hill they go to meet the enemy at least a mile away;
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5AywIL5_eYM

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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 John1 - 12-01-2018, 08:43 PM

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