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Post by calgacus on May 1, 2019 12:22:13 GMT
Strangely enough my mental picture of a dark age battle is based on watching several hundred football supporters battling it out on Princes Street in Edinburgh many years ago, taunts and insults, missiles flying, lines surging back and forwards, a flurry of contact, lines separating with some bodies left on the ground and getting dragged to safety by their mates, then more surges, more contact and more bodies on the ground. Heaven knows what the tourists thought of it all.
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Post by goragrad on May 2, 2019 9:23:25 GMT
There was a post recently on The Miniatures Page calgacus that linked to an article whose author postulated that all combat prior to the modern gunpowder era followed that sequence.
Pity I didn't bookmark it, may try digging it up.
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Post by vtsaogames on Jul 1, 2019 18:44:26 GMT
I have a pretty good idea what an ancient battle is like! I once had to police a football match between, I believe Millwall and Cambridge United, we even had cavalry on our side! But their missile troops certainly out classed us! Ahhh Millwall, my old manor in New Cross down the Old Kent Road. ‘F Troop’, the hardcore Millwall fans, are now all well over 60 years old. I too have never been in an ancient battle... ...but after attending several political demonstrations in the 1980’s, I know what it’s like to be in loose order using peltast tactics to evade heavy infantry charges! (something that cannot happen in the distorted version of reality known as DBA). Some Helpful Downloads can be found here: fanaticus-dba.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Reference_sheets_and_epitomes And here is the latest Jan 2019 FAQ: fanaticus-dba.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ_2019_1st_Quarter
My peltast days were in the 1960's but sound similar. Also was in a very large snowball fight that turned into charges and counter-charges. If the charge was pressed, the defenders always broke.
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Post by vtsaogames on Jul 1, 2019 18:47:54 GMT
Strangely enough my mental picture of a dark age battle is based on watching several hundred football supporters battling it out on Princes Street in Edinburgh many years ago, taunts and insults, missiles flying, lines surging back and forwards, a flurry of contact, lines separating with some bodies left on the ground and getting dragged to safety by their mates, then more surges, more contact and more bodies on the ground. Heaven knows what the tourists thought of it all. My theory is that the breaks in combat was when the more energetic picked up missiles and threw them while everyone else caught their breath. I think that is when the Republican Romans would relieve their front line. Can't prove it true or for that matter disprove it.
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Post by Cromwell on Jul 2, 2019 7:41:17 GMT
I remember some very loud, somewhat inebriated Royal Air Force officers, including one individual who will remain nameless as he later became famous, who decided to form a rudimentary shield wall using cushions for shields to stop the rest of us getting to the mess bar, the resulting brawl was quite memorable. We broke the shield wall in the end by turn a fire hose on them!
After the mess (literally) was cleaned up the next day, notices appeared on the fire hose reels stating "These hoses are only to be used in the event of a fire"!
I also seem to remember that such an episode in the Airmens mess was called vandalism, in the Sergeants mess a fracas but in the Officers mess it was just high spirits!
Happy days!
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