Time Commanders on the BBC - Printable Version

Time Commanders on the BBC - Printable Version

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Time Commanders on the BBC - Robert Vermaat - 09-02-2003

For those who are fortunate enough to get the BBC, next thursday BBC 2 will start airing the 'Time Commanders' series. 
 
[url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctwo/listings/programme.shtml?day=thursday&service_id=4224&filename=20030904/20030904_2000_4224_7704_60" target="top]Program 1[/url] will be about Agricola and Mons Graupius: 
 
"New series in which wannabe warriors are plunged into a virtual world to do battle with the great military strategists of the past. In a specially designed studio, this week's contenders attempt to mount a defence to the Roman invasion of Scotland at the famous battle of Mons Graupius. It will be up to them to command their troops as they meet the enemy on a simulated battlefield, while expert historians assess their performance." 
 
Valete, 
Valerius/Robert

Re: Time Commanders on the BBC - venicone - 09-02-2003

think this is based on Rome Total War 
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Re: Time Commanders on the BBC - Anonymous - 09-03-2003

The programme will use the rome total war battle engine. 
 
I am looking forward to seeing what it looks like. 
 
 
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Re: Time Commanders on the BBC - mcbishop - 09-03-2003

Program 1 will be about Agricola and Mons Graupius 
 
Curiously, my Radio Times (which is, admittedly, the Scottish/Border edition ;-) says this episode is going to be the battle of Trebia! Will Calgacus have elephants, one wonders? 
 
Mike Bishop

Re: Time Commanders on the BBC - Robert Vermaat - 09-04-2003

Plaid elephants, whoopy! 
 
Well, my info came from the BBC website, but come to think of it, they advertised with teasers about Julius Caesar. I guess that means the RadioTimes may be right. 
 
Valete, 
Valerius/Robert

Re: Time Commanders on the BBC - mcbishop - 09-04-2003

Well, it turns out it was the Trebia on both BBC England and Scotland (I can get 'em both :-)... but the BBC History website is also still claiming it to be Mons Graupius. Possibly a little rescheduling because the Trebia team performed so well and.... engaged... our.. enthusiasm... zzzzz... 
 
Best bit was hearing the military boffin describe the Roman cavalry as cr*p (not to be confused with 'crack', which was also used a few times) - this is not Aunty Beeb as we used to know and love her ;-) Worst bit was an outbreak of what I call NVidia Lens Flare (logic dictates there were no lenses to flare...). 
 
Series advisor was Adrian (Two Books in October) Goldsworthy. 
 
Mike Bishop

Re: Time Commanders on the BBC - Robert Vermaat - 09-04-2003

Mike, I couldn't agree more. Very nice of our volunteer squad to eminate Hannibal in setting that ambush, and that without any knowledge of Roman military affairs and only 15 minutes (!) to get all the info into their heads. They actually outdid Hannibal and decisively beat the Romans, killing the commander as a bonus. What does that leave of Hannibal's reputation as a brilliant tactician? He was outdone in one go by a team of bickering (oh yes they did!) amateurs... 
 
One wonders, though, what would have happened had the Romans been commanded by another live team instead of a computer program.. 
 
Mons Graupius is due next week. I bet the Caledonians will win, using the Highland mists to cunningly outflank Agricola and kidnap him. Thus rendered leaderless, the Batavian auxiliaries will immediately change sides and help the Caledonians to victory. The latter will then march down to Londinium, burning York (sorry, Eboracum) on the way and, after having laid flowers on the grave of poor Boudicca, will cross to the continent and sack Rome. 
 
Valete, 
Valerius/Robert Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub45.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=vortigernstudies>Vortigern Studies</A> at: 9/7/03 1:14 am

Re: Time Commanders on the BBC - Jeroen Pelgrom - 09-05-2003

i also saw this program. It was really great (also iÃƒâ€šÃ‚Â´m looking forward to RTW even more now). 
 
But i must say that the computer of the Roman side didnÃƒâ€šÃ‚Â´t play very good. The computer let his troops to be spread out all over the battlefield. Also, the computer used heavy inf. to counter the elefants, not really a good idea. 
 
In all, i think if a human would have played the Romans, the battle would have gone different. Although the Roman are suffering from having not very good cavalry, that can be tricky. But the Roman inf should be able to counter that. 
 
looking forward to next week. I hope Rome will win then. 
 
Good job, BBC!! 
 
Volo anaticulam cumminosam meam!Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub45.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=pelgr003>pelgr003</A> at: 9/5/03 8:02 am

Re: Time Commanders on the BBC - derek forrest - 09-05-2003

Yes it was fun but a bit disjointed. It seemed to have been filmed in real time when it might be better if they gave more time and edited the result. What the point of the board and bricks was I am not sure as there was no time to move them about.

Re: Time Commanders on the BBC - Anonymous - 09-07-2003

still I suppose if Hannibal had airbourne real-time spotting craft and instant communications-- he may have done better 
 
 
 
now if they had made the commanders sit behind a wall and only what they could actually have been able to see, relying on messages from their loooooooootenants!!! 
 
but I think large scale wargames used to use this technique in the days before comupter games 
 
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Re: Time Commanders on the BBC - Robert Vermaat - 09-12-2003

Well. 
part 2. 
 
Not Mons Graupius, as advertised, but Boudica and 'the battle of Watling Street'. And a Bad Boudica, who (surprise, surprise!!) won the day and ended the Roman occupation of Britain. 
Small wonder, with such a bunch of idiots against her she'd have won if all the Iceni had been blindfolded before and during the battle! The best the Romans could do was biting their own heads of, having no command structure, no strategic vision (one that grasped the battle was shouted down), no oversight. 
 
So, the Romans left their up-hill postion, to come down in a thin line, which lead to them being surrounded. Their archers were massacred without anyone noticing, and when they went after Boudica they thought her death would send all 60.000 Iceni and associated Celts running home. 
Sigh... 
 
Next week, Agricola and the north? And, hopefully, a better team? 
 
Valete, 
Valerius/Robert

Pageworthy - JRSCline - 09-13-2003

Hahahaha, ROFL, Two Books in October! Great, Mike! 
 
See you Sunday... 
 
Cheers 
Jenny

time commanders - venicone - 09-13-2003

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Re: time commanders - Anonymous - 09-13-2003

caught the last 15 minutes. 
 
the experts referred to the auxillary cavalry as the most important unit- not sure why? 
the experts also said that killing Boudicca would have made no difference- of course they do not know that nor do they know what actually drove the tribes except what Roman historians tell us 
 
the results of battles can revolve around small incidents 
 
 
interesting that one of the generals said that they had too much information- so they tended to become focused on limited areas of the battle field an lose sight of the whole. <img src="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/mark.martin/forum/mark.gif
" width="100" height="100" align="right">

Re: time commanders - Robert Vermaat - 09-13-2003

I think I can explain two of these - 
1) The experts said that the killing of Boudica made no difference because the British force was made up not only from the Iceni, but also from other tribes They felt the latter would not have been too bothered by her death when they actually were in the process of killing the last Romans on the field. In other words, at the time it made no difference. 
2) of course it was too much info for the Roman team - they were no tacticians, but used to run a garden of a big house. The team from last week's episode was much better prepared. 
 
Valete, 
Valerius/Robert