Field Battles .. shows or movies

Hi All,

Great game. I'm playing as Egypt right now. Long live the Pharoh!

One of the great joys that I think computer gaming brings is the depth of a good game. A game like this wants to make you read about the history of Rome and the peoples of the game. In that vein (kind of like the thread a bit further down), I was wondering if anyone had a comprehensive list of movies that have large scale field battles in them. That is, large battles where you can see field movements, formations, tactics, etc. There are a couple that come to mind, but I really know of NO others.

To be more clear, I'm not looking for movies about the tragedies, politics, etc of Rome, I'm looking for movies that show ancient world field battles, preferably with some tactics involved and what tactics it shows.

Here are mine so far:

1. Braveheart - Shows two large battles as well as a seige and other small scale fights. Calvary flanking and charging into archers, pikes against a calvary charge, boiling oil on a gate, shooting arrows into your own troops, using reinforcements from the side. The best example I can think of so far.

2. Troy - shows some really large battles, and cool effects, but mostly it's the epic warriors fighting each other. The beach landing is pretty good, as well as when the whole army is lined up in front of the gates, and the actual seige/conquering of Troy.

3. Spartacus - The end battle shows a bit of troop movement and some large scale fighting.

Any I am missing?

You can watch Oliver Stone's "Alexander" in theater now. The time frame is actually the cloeset to RTW period - you can see how phalanx is executed on the battlefield and realize why these guys try so hard, and they are still so darn slow. ~D In Alexander you can see 2 field battles, the first one involves a bit strategic planning before the battle delivered by Alexander the cheap-dye blonde.

To add a few more:

1. Gladiator - who could forget the big battle in the very beginning of the movie? Some good Roman tactics are shown here, although they are probably not quite accurate.

2. The Patriot - not exactly ancient battles, but they're not modern either. It's an American Revolution movie, and alludes to the American three-line defense tactic, but doesn't quite get it right.

3. Alexander - I haven't seen this one, so I don't know if the battle scenes are any good, but I know it has them.

4. Lord of the Rings - obviously fantasy battles, but cool nonetheless.

LOTR, great mentioning.

At the end of "Two Towers", you see mass cavalry charged.. head-on into the spears and routed the orcs. Don't try that in RTW. ~;) You also see how powerful oliphauts can be. Har har har ~:cool:

Yes, forgot about LOTR... good battles in all 3 movies, but especially the last 2.

Gladiator ... also good, but only that beginning battle. Nice chariot/tesudo scene in both the opening battle and the arena. And, we get to see a headhurler (ok, one headhurler).

Spartacus has a great scene where he is describing army movements on a strategic map... that an army is moving from the south, has landed in the east, and both are moving toward him. This basically forces him to move north and march against Rome. Great scene in his tent.

I really, really wanted Alexander to be good, but the reviews I have read so far said it sucks so much @ss that it's not worth the price of admission to see the battles. Though, they said Troy sucked too, and I thought it was pretty good.

Again, not particularly ancient, and doesn't involve much strategic planning, but the battles in Henry V (the Brannagh version) do a good job of bringing the horror and mass confusion of a battle in that era to life.

He says, like he was there. But you know what I mean.

There are quite a few movies from the 50's and 60's showing ancient warfare, but only a few are good. The only one I remember being okay was Spartacus, where the Romans draw up in the checkerboard formation.

mfberg

Sorry for posting in my own thread .. it won't let me edit posts....

Yes, Spartacus has come troop formation movement, while the rebel warmy watches. I counted 20 rectangular formations, plus the general's gaurd, which was on a hill. So alike to RTW you'd think the devs watched that battle when they programmed the graphics. No good manuvering after that, though.

Though over another one.

Ben Hur: A great fight between a Roman fleet and some Macedonian pirates. Ramming ships, fighting on ship to ship, burining shots, etc. Would be cool if they modeled this in game, but meh, I'm happy as a lark as is.

Bravheart!? I would hardly describe that as an ancient battle. Correct me if i'm wrong, but that's more around abouts MTW's time. And a s for alexander, i've got most of my friends to boycott it, as it is so horribly bad. Why would alexander wear that horribly short skirt!? And why is he portrayed as being gay/bisexual? Pretty much all people think of alexander as being this big macho man, who was the complete opposite of gay.

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Originally Posted by Mikeus Caesar

Bravheart!? I would hardly describe that as an ancient battle. Correct me if i'm wrong, but that's more around abouts MTW's time. And a s for alexander, i've got most of my friends to boycott it, as it is so horribly bad. Why would alexander wear that horribly short skirt!? And why is he portrayed as being gay/bisexual? Pretty much all people think of alexander as being this big macho man, who was the complete opposite of gay.

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Why? Becaues he was gay, bi at least but more likely gay. Besdies being gay doesn't mean your effeminate and girly automatically. The only actual gay person I ever met hates gay men like that as they give the rest of them a bad name. And that horribly short skirt was a tunic numb-nuts. Which were part of any military unifrom back then. Trousers were how barbarians dressed, not civilized greeks.

GAH!

Heaven and Earth, the samurai movie, not the Tommee Lee Jones Vietnam thing... :bow:

Rome-wise... TNT had a miniseries... "Attila". It was OK and had some battles and what-not. Vanya remembers seeing the Romans all huddled around each other when they finally smacked Attila with Frank help... They looked so feeble...

:duel:

Then there is Cleopatra... not the silly classic... the adult one. Good plunder and booty ripe for the takin'!

~:cheers:

GAH!

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Originally Posted by ElGuapo

I really, really wanted Alexander to be good, but the reviews I have read so far said it sucks so much @ss that it's not worth the price of admission to see the battles. Though, they said Troy sucked too, and I thought it was pretty good.

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I saw it and thought it sucked too. I had watched the history channel's presentation on Alexander so I knew every plot turn, and they missed a few if I remember correctly. I couldnt see much of the battles, one taking place in what seemed to be a dust storm that blocked out everything. Most of the movie seemed to focus on the fact that all greeks were bisexual in those days, this is shown again and again during the movie which whoever has seen it can confess to.

I was disappointed by this. The battles were awful (imho), they focused the entire movie upon everyone being bisexual, and left out huge parts of history by saying two sentences about it.

you could say I didnt like it because I knew what would happen, but I knew what would happen with troy and that movie was fantastic.

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And why is he portrayed as being gay/bisexual?

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Because he was. As were most of the immorals...

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Originally Posted by sapi

Because he was. As were most of the immorals...

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Is that why they were called immorals? ~D ~D ~;)

troy is a good movie. don't know why some people bash it, though not from this thread, but in some. best one-on-one battle (achilles v. hector) i've ever seen so far. there is also this phalanx push from the walls of troy where the trojans repel the greeks attempt to overwhelm the trojans.

regarding alexander, well the movie sucks. alexander was the greatest general those times, probably ever, and all we got to see are two lousy battles. alexander was a creature of war and the movie was just so focused with this mother-son relationship. bummer. his drive was to understand the world and he took his army along for the ride. and another thing, when alexander was 16, his father brought him along to suppress an uprising in thebes. guess which unit alexander fought along with his Companions? the vaunted Theban Sacred Band, which alexander annihilated.

watch out for an epic documentary on discovery at new year, its replicating
all of alexanders battles, its a big buget doc, shot on location, looks GREAT!


in the words of iron maiden "alexander the great, his name struck fear into hearts of men, alexander the great, became a legend 'mongst mortel men"
i love this song ~:cool:

For the STW fans the movie RAN or Rah ( I forget exactly). An awesome japanese film based on King Lear. The battles are litterally thousands of extras and are fantastic and impressive. All the basic units of Shogun Total war are represented.