Rome v. USMC

[Montegriffo]

Crete didn't have the yew longbow and neither do you anymore.

You can make longbows from ash, just not as powerful. Still powerful enough to out range anything the Romans had though.
Plus of course they would have the knowledge of how to build a trebuchet to attack Roman walls and set fire to their cities.

[Smitty-48]

I think what would ultimately kill the Marines off, even if they went covert, would be disease, the pathogenic environment 2000 years ago would be alien to their immune systems, they would get sick, and they would have no antibodies to overcome the spread of infection.

[Smitty-48]

Crete didn't have the yew longbow and neither do you anymore.

You can make longbows from ash, just not as powerful. Still powerful enough to out range anything the Romans had though.
Plus of course they would have the knowledge of how to build a trebuchet to attack Roman walls and set fire to their cities.

At some point they have to close with the Romans, the Romans are not going to surrender, this is why Hannibal never attacked the city itself, and the Romans showed what they'd do if the enemy took the countryside; wait them out, Hannibal occupied Italy for 15 years, but the Romans just bided their time.

[Montegriffo]

I think what would ultimately kill the Marines off, even if they went covert, would be disease, the pathogenic environment 2000 years ago would be alien to their immune systems, they would get sick, and they would have no antibodies to overcome the spread of infection.

That could go either way, the Romans would have no defence to a modern flu virus.

[Smitty-48]

I think what would ultimately kill the Marines off, even if they went covert, would be disease, the pathogenic environment 2000 years ago would be alien to their immune systems, they would get sick, and they would have no antibodies to overcome the spread of infection.

That could go either way, the Romans would have no defence to a modern flu virus.

The flu virus is not modern, the flu is an ancient virus, the Romans were exposed to that virus, the flu we get now, is 6000 years old.

[Montegriffo]

Crete didn't have the yew longbow and neither do you anymore.

You can make longbows from ash, just not as powerful. Still powerful enough to out range anything the Romans had though.
Plus of course they would have the knowledge of how to build a trebuchet to attack Roman walls and set fire to their cities.

At some point they have to close with the Romans, the Romans are not going to surrender, this is why Hannibal never attacked the city itself, and the Romans showed what they'd do if the enemy took the countryside; wait them out, Hannibal occupied Italy for 15 years, but the Romans just bided their time.

I did concede that they would have to recruit enough followers. If they could then they would have no fear of closing with the Romans. The longbow is an excellent weapon at close range too. I guess it would depend on the strength of a Roman shield.

[Smitty-48]

You're not going to recruit many followers, if Hannibal couldn't do it, sure as shit a bunch of Germans from the future are not going to be able to.

Rome was the light of civilization, the vast majority of Romans were loyal to it unto death, including most of the slaves. Being a slave in Rome, was better than being free in the lands of barbarism, even the slaves would fight you to the last.

[Montegriffo]

I think what would ultimately kill the Marines off, even if they went covert, would be disease, the pathogenic environment 2000 years ago would be alien to their immune systems, they would get sick, and they would have no antibodies to overcome the spread of infection.

That could go either way, the Romans would have no defence to a modern flu virus.

The flu virus is not modern, the flu is an ancient virus, the Romans were exposed to that virus, the flu we get now, is 6000 years old.

Flu viruses are constantly mutating, they would have no more immunity to a modern virus than we would have to an ancient one.

[Fife]

You're not going to recruit many followers, if Hannibal couldn't do it, sure as shit a bunch of Germans from the future are not going to be able to.

What about U.S. Marines from the future?

[Smitty-48]

That could go either way, the Romans would have no defence to a modern flu virus.

The flu virus is not modern, the flu is an ancient virus, the Romans were exposed to that virus, the flu we get now, is 6000 years old.

Flu viruses are constantly mutating, they would have no more immunity to a modern virus than we would have to an ancient one.

The common influenza virus, they were exposed to, it mutated annually then as it does now, but it wasn't the Spanish Flu then anymore than it is now.

The non-eradicated common viruses which the Marines would be carrying, would not be uncommon 2000 years ago, the eridicated viruses, the ones that didn't make it through Darwinian evolution, those would be the killer viruses, and it would be the Marines who had never encountered them before.