Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.

[Nathan Ross]

It looks to me that the spoon could be the dangerous end of the same spear shaft, does it look like any known pilum/spear type?

Could be. Certainly doesn't look much like a spoon!

could the reference to the "forest to the rear" be a strategic description of a Forest to the west of the site

I think the 'forest obstacle' is certainly intended as tactical rather than strategic. We probably shouldn't be too eager to go looking for likely forests though - patterns of forestation have changed almost totally in the last two thousand years... :wink:

if the forts claimed in the Church Stowe paper were tooled up with Scorpio's with a 400m range, the fields of fire would look like this

Hmmm - well, the report only really claims two forts, which are the supposed twin marching camps around Castle Dykes. There could be another fortlet to the westwards, and some possibility of an embankment. Trouble is, Tacitus doesn't actually mention fortifications of this sort, or the use of artillery. Would Paulinus have brought artillery with his relatively small marching column? He didn't expect to engage in siege warfare with the Britons. The use and portability of battlefield artillery in this period should perhaps be investigated further before we start adding it to hypothetical battle plans!

So a Roman attack over the saddle south of Weedon Hill and the cavalry racing along the ridges to the south and north looks like a good plan of attack.

Yes, looks good. But there's another problem with the idea of field fortifications - Paulinus would have needed to detach large bodies of men to hold such a far-flung line, especially if ballistae were mounted out there too. This would have further reduced the already limited number of troops in his main battle-line. Since the whole point of chosing this ground was presumably so that a small body of men could be effectively concentrated against a larger mass, dispersing his force in this way would seem counterproductive.

Always interesting to revisit this topic, though, nevertheless!

- Nathan