BBC Troy

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Anyway...
Back on topic...
Dendra Armour...

[SV52]

Back on topic?

The subject of the OP was the BBC's upcoming programme surely   

[Steeleye]

The last page or so of this topic is a good example of why I don't contribute to the forum very much, if at all.

[fsn]

My whole point about blokes flaling about in Dendra armour like something in "It's a Knockout" has been scuppered by Ithoriel's insistance on bringing facts to the matter.  

I don't think I'll be watching. Although I enjoyed "The Musketeers", "Merlin" was aimed at children and "Atlantis" was just silly. I suspect there will be lots of CGI, lots of heaving busoms, and lots of dialogue we could probably write greats wads of here*. From the clip it seems that tactics consist entirely of the charge and all formations dissolve into single combats - a la "Batley Townwomen's Guild presnets the Battle of Pearl Harbour".

Not only that, but we all know how it will end.





* Dialoghue bingo for those who'd like to play.
"Coward. Stay and hide behind the skirts of your Spartan whore."
"It is the will of Gods that I go."
"No, you can't borrow my armour, Patrocolus."
"Mighty Zeus, I beseech thee."
"You may be a soldeir of Troy, but you are also a husband."  
"Not another cunning plan, Ulysses!"
"Oh, what cruels fate awaits me -only the Gods know".
"Ajax, you're on kitchen cleaning duty - yes, both of you."
"May Hera guide my spear" - (pick any diety and weapon combo)
"Oooh! A big horsey!"



   

[DanJ]

Looks like it might be an interesting show, given the screening time I suspect it's more likely to be like Rome than Merlin I also suspect it's the BBC seeing if they can compete with Game of Thrones for the adult fantasy sex and violence audience.  The short clips of battle look suitably confusing and dust choked.

On a more gamey note, one of my favourite Warmaster Ancients armies is the Heroic Greeks, lots of simple foot with a nice mix of light chariots.  It can also include a sub general beafed up to 'Heroic' status, basically getting a couple of extra attack dice, mine either fights like Brad Pit (hooray) or Orlando Bloom (booooo), which makes like interesting. 

[Leman]

Not having seen a clip as yet (I mostly watch streamed programmes, including player, and yes I do have a licence) I would haver thought that the enormous shields used at that time would have made linear tactics a must. Unless of course Auntie decided great big shields were too expensive.

[Ithoriel]

The guys I saw looked more like this than like fsn's "man-in-a-dustbin."

Not having seen a clip as yet (I mostly watch streamed programmes, including player, and yes I do have a licence) I would haver thought that the enormous shields used at that time would have made linear tactics a must. Unless of course Auntie decided great big shields were too expensive.

By the time of the Trojan War tower shields hade been replaced by smaller shields, armour was less encumbering and spears shorter.



I'm expecting the Beeb to have troops in something like the "Musketeers"/ "Vikings" style fantasy leather armour rather than anything Late Bronze Age but if it doesn't play too fast and loose with the Homeric epics I'll no doubt watch it.

Heck, I watched Spartacus and enjoyed it ... so clearly I have no aesthetic taste whatsoever

[Ithoriel]

I still think the Wooden Horse was a conventional, Late Bronze Age, Middle Eastern siege tower with ram and boarding ramp. Having it dragged towards the walls by enemy Trojan prisoners would explain the idea that the Trojans brought it into their own city. By the time the story gets back to Greece, where people have probably never seen such a thing it is completely garbled and "hey presto" the modern myth is born.

I still want to see myth depicted in "Troy."

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Do you think they will do all 10 years in one series, or just the juicy bits?

[fsn]

I'm going for

"Hi, I'm Paris, and you're gorgeous. Run away with me!"
"OK".

Ten years later

...



To be fair the first 9 years of the siege seems to have been so boring that Homer didn't much write about them.

Unless there's 9 books out there yet to be found? 

[Ithoriel]

I'm going for

"Hi, I'm Paris, and you're gorgeous. Run away with me!"
"OK".

I just met you
And this is crazy
But my name's Paris
Come with me, maybe?

[d_Guy]

 

[toxicpixie]

Brilliant, Ithorial

I await your follow up single "Stab it up" with glee.

Given the miffic nature of Homers writing and the Iliad's status as "fantasy story about something that may or may not have any great accuracy" then any playing about with the story is likely to be just as "accurate" as the original.

It's the Ancient Greek version of "Hornblower" or the Cretinous take on the Arthur Cycle etc etc.

I'm enjoying "Britannia" at the moment, it's quite gloriously silly. No one's run down a chariot pole and speared a legionary yet, but I'm hopeful.

[DanJ]

By rights the Troy story should start with the Judgement of Paris.

[d_Guy]

Or even slightly before when Zeus, in his wisdom, declined to make the judgement and palmed it off on a silly mortal.