Archived from groups: rec.games.miniatures.historical (More info?)
Hi All:
Last night the USA network offered a redoing of the Stanley Kubrick film from
forty years ago. Without any sort of film criticism, I'd like to get straight
to the chase - did anyone see any potential applications from the film to
wargaming? There's a possibility of using the new set of skirmish rules from
Larry Brom to do some of the early skirmish battles. My initial inclination is
to use slightly more gladiator types than Roman soldiers to take into account
the large numbers of slaves moved from relatively peaceful pursuits into armed
resistance but who are leavened with a core of hardened gladiators. Will anyone
else be looking tonight to see how the "big battles" are handled? On a positive
note:
1. Costuming seems accurate although I thought that the current thinking about
Roman uniform cloth is that it was bleached wool.
2. Gladiatorial combat seemed accurate particularly in light of the Wargames
Illustrated article about the games in the April, 2004 edition.
3. Weapons looked "real." The shields looked terrific.
4. Alan Bates was excellent.(Sorry film criticism!)
On a down note:
1. Aparently in an effort to keep with the familiar Spartacus story in the
Howard Fast novel adaptation, once again Hollywood completely disregards the
fact that Spartacus was not a Thracian mine slave but a Roman who voluntarily
entered galadiatorial combat. The film makes the life of the gladiator brutal -
it was, indeed, that - but overlooks that these men were the male superstars of
their day, many were very wealthy and they had the women of Rome lusting after
them.
2. The core of actors, while professional, lacked the superstar quality of Sir
Laurence Olivier, Kirk Douglas, Peter Ustinov, Charles Laughton, and Jean
Simmons. The acting and directing styles are different which reflects the 44
year gap in production but I wonder what was lost in translation.(Yes, more
film criticism.)
3. The initial Roman troops were decidedly inferior. But would they have broken
formation so easily? And why didn't they ever throw their javelins and pils?
I am looking forward to seeing part 2 this evening.
Gerardus Minimus
Hi All:
Last night the USA network offered a redoing of the Stanley Kubrick film from
forty years ago. Without any sort of film criticism, I'd like to get straight
to the chase - did anyone see any potential applications from the film to
wargaming? There's a possibility of using the new set of skirmish rules from
Larry Brom to do some of the early skirmish battles. My initial inclination is
to use slightly more gladiator types than Roman soldiers to take into account
the large numbers of slaves moved from relatively peaceful pursuits into armed
resistance but who are leavened with a core of hardened gladiators. Will anyone
else be looking tonight to see how the "big battles" are handled? On a positive
note:
1. Costuming seems accurate although I thought that the current thinking about
Roman uniform cloth is that it was bleached wool.
2. Gladiatorial combat seemed accurate particularly in light of the Wargames
Illustrated article about the games in the April, 2004 edition.
3. Weapons looked "real." The shields looked terrific.
4. Alan Bates was excellent.(Sorry film criticism!)
On a down note:
1. Aparently in an effort to keep with the familiar Spartacus story in the
Howard Fast novel adaptation, once again Hollywood completely disregards the
fact that Spartacus was not a Thracian mine slave but a Roman who voluntarily
entered galadiatorial combat. The film makes the life of the gladiator brutal -
it was, indeed, that - but overlooks that these men were the male superstars of
their day, many were very wealthy and they had the women of Rome lusting after
them.
2. The core of actors, while professional, lacked the superstar quality of Sir
Laurence Olivier, Kirk Douglas, Peter Ustinov, Charles Laughton, and Jean
Simmons. The acting and directing styles are different which reflects the 44
year gap in production but I wonder what was lost in translation.(Yes, more
film criticism.)
3. The initial Roman troops were decidedly inferior. But would they have broken
formation so easily? And why didn't they ever throw their javelins and pils?
I am looking forward to seeing part 2 this evening.
Gerardus Minimus
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