Time Commanders

[Westmarcher]

Watched part of the prog last night on BBC IPlayer right up to the end of the skirmishing phase. Graphics are better. Quite enjoyed it.    Will make my own judgement when I watch the rest later.     And, agree with Nathan, it does have a lot more life about it than Battleground. 

Only disappointment so far has been the Roman commander's lack of tactical knowledge for dealing with the entrance of the rampaging Carthaginian elephant.  I mean, really!  Every classical wargamer knows what the command is for dealing with elephants!

.... "Release the mice!"   

[toxicpixie]

Given what people above have said, i'm half surprised they didn't have Greg Wotshisface in a Centurions helmet waving a rubber sword around

I shall bring popcorn and my amused face and treat it as entertainment with the same level of factual integrity as a News UK or Rothermere publication

The CARTHAGINIANS attacked with AN ELEPHANT, and you WILL NOT BELIEVE what the ROMANS did NEXT!!! *tits, legs, sensationalism, lies etc etc*

[cameronian]

Edward Woodward is dead 

[toxicpixie]

I know, but probably reanimatable with some decent CGI

And even without, still likely a better presenter than Greg Wotshisface

[Zippee]

Pretty much agree with the Luddite.

Although I was less bothered by The Grocer's enthusiasm than I expected, if it was a choice between deleting him or Lynette, I'd delete Lynette - s/he was useless in the original series and no better now s/he's in a frock!

Most frustrating was the total lack of accurate scene setting - who knew that the only light troops Carthage had access to were slingers or that actually they were machine gun sling equipped killing machines?

very annoying in that it's such a wasted opportunity to discuss what actually happened in an informative way - sadly the impression any casual viewer would take from the programme would bear precious little resemblance to history.

And that's despite a weird attempt to explain Roman manipular tactics - tactics that the computer game utterly failed to duplicate as it seemed to have the Romans deployed in cohorts.

Just a mish-mash ultimately, the architecture of the show needs severely overhauling - there's a good product in there somewhere but it's being squandered by the production team.

[d_Guy]

Luddite,
Thanks for taking the time write a thoughtful review (they probably should hire you as producer/director  )
I wont be able to see it anytime soon and will now likely wait for its YouTube appearance.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Still better than their first efforts, I have to say (only because we watched the original series Qadesh the other day with my class and it took an awfully long time to become watchable), so dry. At least with the new format the uninitiated are getting a go at the tactics, weapons explanation and getting into the mindset. Greg running round stating the obvious fills some of the narration gaps, and as a non-historian, wanting the two sides to get in there has to make for better entertainment than waiting!
We, as a body (if a hive mind has a body) are probably better informed about things than your average punter. Yes, there will be mistakes, but as a historically minded person, isn't that part of the fun? For a stand alone battle, Zamia is a pretty good battle for a new punter, open plain, lots of decent foot and horse, BIG scrap! I thought the attempt to limit the troop types was good, as too many would be too much to handle for some, for instance, all those Gauls should have been charging wallies, with elephant support, which could have really upset the Romans, but as it was, it got across it was a very tight battle, and the wrestlers did well, killing Scipio for the loss of Hannibal shows how desperate they were!
I'd not seen Total War:Rome II before, loved the new details.
The good Dr looked far more comfortable as she now is, and their camera asides were clearer than the first series; they are still trying to explain it all to the lowest common iq (which, tbh, on BBC4 is much higher), I have to say because with the new format the uninitiated are getting a go at the tactics and getting into the mindset. Yes,it was a thin plywood shield, but it showed what a pila COULD do. I suspect they hyped the importance of the slingers, but then the Wrestlers were rather successful with them. Amazing what you can do in the edit!
I thought the wrestlers played well, but were unlucky. Zama should be a hard win for the Carthagians, I think they did well. If they had held the trunkies back to deal with cavalry or as a second line, they could have really upset the Romans, but after watching the skirmish, it is no wonder the nellies were wasted as a wonder weapon. We know that, but did they? Doubtful. My main complaint was the gamers c-in-c was an upper class numpty who I wanted to sleep down a social class every time he opened his public school mouth! But thats my lower middle-class bias for you!
As I said, I enjoyed it.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

And I had a jolly good beer and my wife's homemade flapjack to enjoy whilst watching it! 🍺

[toxicpixie]

Ooo, beer!

I might add that element later, although flapjack is unlikely

FlakJack maybe if we play anything WW2 tomorrow evening

[Jim Ando]

Hi

My ten year old son loved. It's got him talking about the pumice wars which is a good thing for getting new blood in to an aging hobby.
Jim

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

I hope that isn't a typo Jim!

[Westmarcher]

Well, have now seen the second half which shows the replay of the battle. Well said, Lemmey. Yes it has its limitations, one presenter is rather over-exuberant (but he doesn't make you fall asleep) and it's clearly not a prog that's going to be hailed as an academic masterpiece that will be held up for eternity as a paragon of historic wargaming, etc., yaddy, ya ya ya .... but I will tune in next week because, overall, it was fun and I liked it. Just disappointed they didn't deploy the mice ..... would love to have seen how the hefalumps would have coped (blooming Romans .... didn't they eat dormice?).

My ten year old son loved. It's got him talking about the pumice wars which is a good thing for getting new blood in to an aging hobby.

Aaaargh! They're everywhere now!  

(Next week, will it be the Miceaneans?)

P.S. Meant to say, the presenter has to be R.Lee Ermey! Wouldn't he be great? Imagine him shouting at the players! 

[Norm]

After having it on my mind to watch it - I did of course miss it.

Hard to get the enthusiasm to press the catch up buttons on the remote in view of what has been said so far.

I wonder what a non-wargaming audience would make of it - they may give a more forgiving review and get something enjoyable from it and of course there are a ton of computer wargamers out there who will have their own likes and dislikes of such a beast.

[Luddite]

R.Lee Ermey! Wouldn't he be great? Imagine him shouting at the players! 

Given that he has very little clue what he's talking about (the limit of his historical analysis being "Hoorah!!  Simper fi!!" if YourTube is any indication) I suspect we are better off without him.

Personally I'd have drafted Dan Snow for the general public, and someone like David Fletcher for the wargamers.

[Westmarcher]

Just trying to inject some fun, Luddy.