Summer trainings and farewell party for Dave the Roman - January
Summer training on pleasantly cooler Sunday evenings at the Domain comprised Roman army drill using Latin commands, Vic leading sword-training, and orbis, vallum and testudo formations advancing against archery fire from our Syrian archer Jae Sung (with only one arrow shattered - against a shield, not a helm).
Range weapon training includes the recurve bow, pilum, spear, leather slings, plumbata (thrown at the advancing charge from behind the shield) and bullwhip versus straw-dummy. Darren had the high-score of 7 confirmed kills, but of course the glory reflects on the whole legion. Mitch proved to be a master of cracking the bullwhip and has taken it home to practice on his brother. We also noted that it appears to be true that, surprisingly, the sling does have a further range than arrows.
Range weapon training includes the recurve bow, pilum, spear, leather slings, plumbata (thrown at the advancing charge from behind the shield) and bullwhip versus straw-dummy. Darren had the high-score of 7 confirmed kills, but of course the glory reflects on the whole legion. Mitch proved to be a master of cracking the bullwhip and has taken it home to practice on his brother. We also noted that it appears to be true that, surprisingly, the sling does have a further range than arrows.
Lisa prepared a Roman feast to farewell Dave the Roman, who is bravely heading off to civilize India for 5 weeks in the name of Rome (in fact, Dave is donating a lot of scientific equipment to an Indian school and does good work improving their education standards). Then over dessert we puzzled over what the Roman dodecahedron could possibly have been used for. The best theory was for stamping patterns on Roman cakes, so we decided that some experimental archaeology was in order. The results weren't conclusive, except that Lisa bakes nice cakes.
