Time Commanders

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Time Commanders

Postby Marcus Pomponius Lupus on Sat Oct 11, 2003 10:17 pm

Salvete,

Does anyone here know about "Time Commanders" ? It is a British program in which historical battles are brought back to live. I've only seen a part of one episode and it looked great, it goes like this :

Four "celebrities" are chosen to command an army at a certain battle ; the battle I saw was the one of Pharsalus (Caesar vs Pompeius). These four brand new generals are given a background of the situation, get a view of the battlefield, which is displayed on enormous computer screens, they are informed about every type of soldier they have to command and are given some time to organise their troops.

After that, everything happens in real time. The freshly promoted generals were given the command of the troops of Pompeius, while the troops of Caesar were commanded by a computer, who appeared to be capable of adjusting his strategy in response to that of his opponent.

The battle was...brutal, the troops of Pompeius were pretty much slaughtered (even though they had the high ground) and the "experts" who were present to provide academical commentary pointed out mistake after mistake...after mistake....until their defeat was a fact and they had lost over 50 thousand men. It was a good day to be Caesar.

What amazed me was how well the computer reacted to everything and how they managed to design it so that it "acted like Caesar". It started out with the same movements as the actual battle, because that was probably just programmed, but due to the rather onorthodox strategy of the modern generals, the computer quickly abandoned that strategy and came up with a new strategy, really interesting to see, especially since it also used the famous tenth legion of Caesar in a key rol.

Very interesting because of the commentary by the experts and of course fun to watch and think "how would I take care of this ?" ;-)

For the Belgae, next thursday there will be a new episode on BBC 2, around 9 o' clock, this time, the battle of Cannae !

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Postby Marcus Pomponius Lupus on Mon Oct 13, 2003 5:51 pm

Salvete,

I'm guessing no one knows the program, but does anyone know what clever tactic Caesar used in the actual battle of Pharsalus ? It's two-fold really and it gave him the victory over Pompeius.

I'll be awarding virtual wreaths for the most correct, most original and most daring tactics ! ;-)

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Postby Quintus Aurelius Orcus on Wed Oct 15, 2003 4:22 pm

Salve Lupe
Actually i have already seen the programme a couple of times and i find it a grea programe. Did anyone watch the documentaroy on the life of a gladiator in Rome a cuple of days ago on the bbc? I know tha next sunday they will be airing a documentary on Pompey and its final days.
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Postby Curio Agelastus on Wed Oct 15, 2003 9:17 pm

Salvete,

I saw one. I'll be honest, I thought little of it; it seemed very sensationalist to me.

As for tactics; is it not obvious? Call in the tanks and over-run Pompeius with superior technology! Ah, the benefits of hindsight...

:twisted:

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Postby Marcus Pomponius Lupus on Thu Oct 16, 2003 8:01 pm

Salve Curio,

"Sensationalist", yes, absolutely, but it's still a tv show and it needs viewers so I guess it's a necessary evil. I can imagine what the meeting must have been like to convince BBC bosses to give the show a chance:

"Well, we want to focus on the major Roman battles that have shaped this world, using academic materials, guest speekers, dusty old maps,..."

"SPLENDID, now throw in some fancy computer animations, banish all that is academic to the background and use some celebrities who have absolutely nothing to do with anthing Roman but who people will recognise and we have a winner !"

Anyway, if the sensationalism is too much, then just watch the last five minutes, when the "professionals" explain how the real battle went and why general A used this or that tactic to counter general B

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Postby Marcus Pomponius Lupus on Thu Oct 30, 2003 11:51 am

Salvete,

As for this particular strategy I was referring to. What Caesar did was he deployed his troops with his left flank next to a river so that this side was protected and could not be flanked. He placed his entire cavalry on the right, seemingly to work as some sort of "special unit" to close any breach in the line of infantry thanks to their speed and mobility.

so we have the following setup (facing the north)



@@@@@@@_____________________//////////

----river--------------legions----------------------cavalry


However, Caesar drew away a cohort of every legion and formed a new legion with it, which he placed behind the cavalry, inside a small forest and of which Pompeius didn't know.

As the battle commenced, Caesar's legions took the initiative and marched forward, holding their formations, while the cavalry and the newly formed legion remained in their place. Pompeius responded by sending down the bulk of his own infantry to meet Caesar's legions head on and also sent his own cavalry to battle Caesar's.

And they were "as tenderly led by the noses as asses are" would Iago say ;-) Just when Pompeius' cavalry reached the opposite side, Caesar's cavalry simply ran off and the extra legion came out to battle the enemy cavalry. All this time Caesar's legions managed to hold their ground and once the enemy cavalry was defeated, both the extra legion and their own cavalry came to their aid thus breaking Pompeius' army both in spirit and in formation and in a whole lot of other places I guess.


So I think Curio's tactic wins the virtual wreath for most daring, most original, and despite the tanks, but being the only entry, even the most correct strategy ;-)

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Postby Quintus Marius Primus on Wed Jan 28, 2004 6:09 pm

The programme by the BBC was great - unfortuanely not being shown anymore and there's currently no plans for another series. I think there were 13 shows/battles in total, most of them involving the Romans in one way or another, but there were a few non-Roman battles of antiquity.

The software on the programme is actually that currently being devised for a PC game that's due to be released in April 04 - it's called "Rome: Total War" and if it's predecessor (Medieval:Total War) and this programme are anything to go by, then it will be fantastic. I await its release with baited breath!

Details of the programme can be found at:

http://www.totalwar.com/time.htm

Hope this helps!

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