Sulla
                
                                      A Dictator Reconsidered

                                          By Lynda Telford 

                     

 Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix; his self written epitaph reads "no friend ever served me, and no enemy ever wronged me, whom I have not repaid in full".

  The truth about Sulla's life and exploits has always been there to be seen. It took a brave person like Lynda Telford to put it all down in writing. Swimming against the stream is hard enough. Fighting your way through two thousand years of history is quite another adventure, although the author's membership in the Richard III society may have helped her prepare for this struggle.

 Sulla: the name exudes anathema to most historians. All stories have to have a villain, and to most he fits the bill admirably. But does he? A soldier and general of the highest caliber, he was a dictator of Rome, the first dictator in Rome's long history not to have a time limit on his authority. He killed, outlawed, and even murdered. So he must be the demon we have read about. As I said, every story needs a villain and a hero. History has chosen the hero in our play, Julius Caesar, a man who refused to bow down to Sulla's will and divorce his wife. Technically true, but there is more to the story. Only two men bearded the old lion that was Sulla. Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus and Caesar. Of the two, Pompey stayed in Rome, whilst Caesar ran to the edge of the Roman world after his slight tug on Sulla's mane.

  He was one of only eight Romans to win the coveted Grass Crown before it was sullied with Octavian's honorary one.

 To me, Lynda Telford's book is a milestone. It brings to life a principled man who should have had the acclaim of the Roman world in which he lived. Instead he was, and is, vilified for his choice of friends and lovers. He was principled, and he did have a reason for what he planned and carried out. He was a patriot who saw Rome falling from a republic to chaos in front of him. He was born just before the upheaval of the Gracchus brothers. The Gracchus brothers also had a plan, a good and true one. Their problem was that they were willing to flaunt all of Rome's laws to see it through. From their lives and deaths you see the fall of the Roman republic. Demagogues, money, and violence became the way of  politics in Rome. Sulla was trying to put an end to this, and to strengthen the senate, and return Rome to a land of its laws.

 The author has picked an incredible man for her work. She has also picked a huge fight with history. If Caesar is a hero, then Sulla must be a villain.

  Sulla is not only vilified for his actions, but also for his way of life. He is the only openly bisexual person in all of the famous men of Rome's historical record before the empire. I say openly because he himself stated that the male actor Metrobius was the love of his life. I think it is high time (as does the author) we look at his life without the blinders of previous centuries prejudices. 

 That I agree with the author's premise is very much a given. To me, Gaius Marius and Caesar were both heading Rome so that it might be ruled as a personal empire, naturally with them or their family as emperors. Sulla tried to put a stop to the violence and chaos of the last forty years. He wanted the republic back in all of its glory, and strong within its laws. The author shows Sulla warts and all. She does not make excuses for him, but tries to explain his actions. There are many people who disagree with her portrait. Caesar finally conquered in the end. His own plaudits of his career have been used to teach Latin for two thousand years. While Sulla, who became a dictator and then voluntarily gave up that power, is reviled instead of being praised as another Cincinnatus. Readers, please try and keep an open mind about the author's portrait of the life of the colossus that was Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix.

 The author brings his life and times to us in it's full panoply. I heartily recommend this book to anyone who has even the slightest interest in the history of the later Roman republic. Hopefully, she is hard at work on a biography of Pompey. In the meantime join me on every Ides of March, and raise a toast to Sulla and Pompey.

 Robert


Book: Sulla: a Dictator Reconsidered
Publisher: Pen and Sword
Distributor: Casemate Publishing
Author: Lynda Telford
Review Date: 8/21/16

I started playing Legion from Slitherine.

Legion is a turn-based strategy game set in ancient Rome.

A little bit like Civilization there is a campaign map, a strategic level, where the player controls armies and must conquer other tribes and city to build a powerful in ancient France and Italy.
What makes the game really interesting is the tactical level. In battles the player must position their armies to take advantage of terrain and make use of the best formations, to ensure victory.
I love that part. You place your units, decide their formation when in the battle they will start marching toward the enemy lines and then watch. Since you do not see most of the enemy troops before starting the battle, some late action may save you the battle at the last moment.
Of course, it may be a little bit frustrating since when you start the battle there is nothing much you can do anymore. But the amazing thing with this game is that you do not feel cheated by the AI. The result of the battles always seems to be accurate and balanced.

Let's be honest... watching your armies fighting on your iPad screen is just very pleasant.
Many times I was feeling like a general giving initial orders before the battle and, on top of the hill, looking as where the fate of his soldiers were decided.
You will learn very quickly all the option at hand before a battle and you will not repeat twice the same mistake after your army hit a wall of defenders because you just gave the wrong formation and direction.

At a strategic level, you will manage your cities, raise production building and allocate enough workers to them in order to produce resources. Wood, food and ore. The city also is used to recruit men for your armies. And workers are soldiers. so you have to make some difficult choice between increasing forces or increasing production.

Legion also have a diplomatic interface who is simple but efficient and do the job well even though it may displease the people who love such part to be deep. Here nothing too fancy but it is efficient enough to create simple treaties. You will not win a game as a diplomat. You will win by forced conquest.

The interface is simply very efficient on the Ipad. This game was created so long ago  I think those guys may have foreseen the tablets age.

Be aware the game comes with a PDF manual who must read since the in-game tutorial is very short and do not cover a lot of information you will find in the manual. Some screenshot I took will show part of this manual.
It is not really nice since reading such document on a tablet is tedious. A better tutorial or in-game hint will have been a better approach. But again this game was developed long time ago before the golden age of tablets. The manual though is very complete and can always be printed.

So if you have patience and want to know everything about each units and their strength and weaknesses, if you need every bit of information about every single buildings in the game to make sure you are making every single decision the right one, then you will have to spend some reading time on this manual.

All in all this game is a very good strategic game with an original tactical approach. I will definitely recommend it for those who likes to raise armies and build an Empire . A must have if you own an Ipad.