Calling all armchair generals! Boudica's Last Stand.

[Nathan Ross]

a slight anomaly regarding the delay for the rebels to catch up.

Perhaps so - but we know that Paulinus had intended Postumus's detachment of the Second Legion to join him in time for the battle. Assuming he only summoned them after he'd heard of the defeat of Cerealis (which we don't know for sure!), he must have considered that he had enough time for Postumus to march from wherever he was stationed - which was probably Exeter.

As I think Michael has said before, if Postumus actually didn't have enough time to have joined Paulinus, he would not have had to kill himself in shame!

Pulling back to St Albans would have taken Paulinus and the refugees out of immediate danger, as the rebels were heading for London. The 20 miles between the two towns, and the close proximity of the Chilterns, would have acted as effective protection, I think. But Paulinus would still be close enough to observe what the rebels were doing, and anticipate their next movements.

the joining of the tribes in the rebellion not just the Trinovantes and the Iceni but others

If we base our estimates on the places where there's evidence of destruction tied to the revolt (Putney, Brentford, Staines, Silchester, Winchester), then the 'other tribes' might have been those in the south-east: the Cantiaci, Regni, Belgae, and perhaps parts of the Atrebates.

great injustice to imply that the Brythonic Army was just a drunken rabble.

I don't think anyone has suggested it was! But the Iceni and Trinovantes had been disarmed 14 years beforehand, and only their middle-aged warriors would have had fighting experience. Prior to the capture of Colchester, they would have few weapons either. I don't doubt that a certain amount of drinking went on, although that doesn't make them a rabble - but they were not, I would say, a disciplined army with a clear chain of command, capable of marching for days on end at a steady pace.

let’s say 18 days and yet the Brythons had not yet reached London by the time that SP got there.

As we've discussed before, this delay is only necessary if we assume that Paulinus know nothing of the revolt until the fall of Colchester.

If, as seems likely, he had been informed of the impending uprising by Catus some time before, he could have reached the vicinity of Godmanchester by the time the rebels took Colchester and defeated Ceralis. From there he could have marched down to London 'through the midst of the enemy' in only three days.

Even at a steady wagon-pace of ten miles a day, the rebels would have taken two days longer to move the 52 miles down to London. But it's very likely that they took even longer than that - Dio mentions rituals and human sacrifice of prisoners following the fall of Cochester, and the country between there and London was ripe for plundering; all that would have slowed down progress considerably.

In any case, we know that Paulinus did reach London before Boudica, so either the Romans were moving implausibly fast, or the Britons were (far more plausibly) slow!

what about the Brythonic charioteers and the cavalry - surely it is not to be expected that they would just hang around doing nothing? 

I would expect the rebel army would not be rolling along in a single column (as in John's favourite 'parade theory'!) but spreading out across the landscape, plundering settlements and villas and gathering food and forage as they went. Chariots (if the rebels actually had them) and cavalry would be good for scouting and skirmishing, but against formations of Roman infantry they'd be fairly useless. Only by keeping their force together could the rebels confront Paulinus effectively.