Military strategy in the WoT

[ahk]

power- aided/wrought weapons!!!!

 

u kno what that means?

 

t3h ub3r l33t h4xx0rs who have Elayne's ability could so totally make like BFGs for everyone

(but then u gotta worry about black market trading n sh!t)

 

i kno...once they're outta the dark ages and back into the good techno age with pulse rifles and EMPs an the like....ull have writing like "then Perrin totally pwnd the Seanchan wit his mages but the frickin campers keep tryinta frag us at the respawn points." n "the lone whitecloaks are always LFG for UBRS"

[Jarred Darque]

Sad thing is, I understand every word you said.

[RobertAlexWillis]

Well ... at least someone did ...

 

 

:?

[Coraxian]

With the heavy weapons the power can be used for, you'd think small guerilla bands would be the option. I think the problem in that though is the lack of communication tools.

 

Combine that with the fact that even with the arrival of gunpowder on the battlefield it took centuries before the mass formation armies transformed into mass skirmishing and I think we'll see more of a mix where several large army groups function in some form of loose unison. The largest cavalry charge in history (20 000 at the battle of Vienna) was performed when gunpowder was already in use for centuries.

 

Of course, this also depends on how Moridin will start the battle.

 

As for "the battle will not be fought as you might think" I imagine it'll be somewhat like Falme. Any ideas on that?

[Brown Ajah]

I believe that THE battle will take place physically with ground troops and as well as metaphysical one power fighting, obviously. But, as Coraxian says above "the battle will not be fought as you might think." I think we can all anticipate that Robert Jordan is going to throw us a curve ball (and it will be awesome). The last battle will not be another Falme. There might be similarities, but supposedly the major portion of the last book will be describing the last battle itself, so we'll see.

 

As for military strategy, it could get pretty crazy if Rand joins forces with the Seanchan (who would be able to help control the skies with channelers riding and the use of scouts, transportation, etc). Personally, I also wonder if Rand will come to Lan's aid? Will Rand be able to make use of the five great captains (Mat replacing Niall) and perhaps Seanchan strategists and Aiel clan chiefs as well in his planning? Rand already has Bashere, Ituralde, and Mat in his camp. We assume that Bryne will join in once Egwene and Rand settle the confrontation that we all know is coming. If the borderlander question is settled, agelmar will likely be there too. With these great minds together, they'll come up with some surprises for the last battle I'm sure. Look at what they can do with 40-50,000 troops. If the world gathers to aid Rand the captains will have a million+ troops with which to work their military magic.

 

We haven't really seen the legion of the Dragon in battle, but supposedly they are trained like Mat's crossbowmen, perhaps Mat's group and the legion of the dragon could execute flanking movements against the DO's shadowspawn raining crossbow bolts into them from the sides while Rand and Lan's troops are the anvil. Toss in some of Bashere's Saldean calvary, with other borderlander cavalry as well who could also ride around the enemy and hit from behind as a hammer. Toss in the seanchan, Perrin's troops, Elayne's Andor troops, maybe Galad's whitecloaks and anyone else who can be assembled for the the LB and who knows what will happen? It won't be simple military tactics though because the DO is amassing a crapload of trollocs and shadowspawn in numbers that on first glance will make Rand's troops look like a joke. Maybe Tuon will ride in with Mat and we'll see the deathwatch guards in action. Haha, these are just a couple things that I thought of immediately when I saw this strategy post. LB will be crazy.

 

The One power will add a dimension of devastation that we can't even imagine. Especially with the BT and WT taking part and channelers using the towers angreal and sa'angreal. NOt to mention callendor, etc. The Seanchan would bring with them their domani as well.

[socom-delta]

I've noticed not a lot of new threads get started here, so I thought I would take a moment to add one that might be interesting that I haven't seen before.

 

With the addition of gateways and crazy combat weaves, plus Mat's crossbows and gunpowder, what kind of cool combat tactics do you think we can look forward to?

J

 

Well idk about weaves, but as far as tactics go you need only look to ancient and medieval european history for an idea of the sorts of tactics they would use. Now, mixing up those tactics with the use of the one power would shift things pretty dramatically. But without, you'd have medieval warfare.

 

At this point, thanks to the introduction of explosive weaponry, the Phalanx would become a pretty useless military formation; something about packing thousands of men together tightly in a large, slow-moving formation makes me think this wouldn't be a good idea.

 

No, I'd expect something as a cross between medieval and modern warfare for those who are able to adapt to the presence of battlemage-like Aes Sedai and Asha'man and Aludra's "dragons" as new weapons. If not, then woe to the general who fails to the adapt. The casualties such a leader would receive (on the wrong side of an attack like this) would be reminiscent of the Somme.

 

 

Guerilla warfare, as well as, special ops type stuff.

 

They've already done Guerilla Warfare. See: Mat's brief campaign against the Seanchan in Altara in Book XI. That is DEFINITELY guerilla warfare, striking the enemy in multiple locations where he is weak and withdrawing quickly to avoid casualties. Also, the part where he ambushed that column of cavalry at point-blank range with 2,000 crossbowmen. That is absolutely guerilla warfare.

[dscott8]

IMHO the problem with war is that the leaders start it and the common troops die by the thousands. I think Rand, with advice from Mat, might change this.

 

"OK, rulers, here's a map. These are the borders between nations. If any nation sends troops onto another's soil, that nation's leader will die. Asha'man will gateway in and cap the sumbitch. OK, now that that's settled, let's go kill Shadowspawn."

[socom-delta]

IMHO the problem with war is that the leaders start it and the common troops die by the thousands. I think Rand, with advice from Mat, might change this.

 

"OK, rulers, here's a map. These are the borders between nations. If any nation sends troops onto another's soil, that nation's leader will die. Asha'man will gateway in and cap the sumbitch. OK, now that that's settled, let's go kill Shadowspawn."

 

 

easiest way to kill somebody, ever: open up a gateway in the middle of their head so it slices them in twain, and the two halves fall away like two slices of bread.

 

honestly idk why rand doesn't do this. pretty gruesome way to kill a man but it's instant death if you do it right :O or open a gateway sideways so it slices someone's head off... and then the head falls through the gateway lol

[Xader]

Holy thread revival Batman!

 

Four-year span from one post to the next!

 

Anyhoo...

 

 

IMHO the problem with war is that the leaders start it and the common troops die by the thousands. I think Rand, with advice from Mat, might change this.

 

"OK, rulers, here's a map. These are the borders between nations. If any nation sends troops onto another's soil, that nation's leader will die. Asha'man will gateway in and cap the sumbitch. OK, now that that's settled, let's go kill Shadowspawn."

 

 

easiest way to kill somebody, ever: open up a gateway in the middle of their head so it slices them in twain, and the two halves fall away like two slices of bread.

 

honestly idk why rand doesn't do this. pretty gruesome way to kill a man but it's instant death if you do it right :O or open a gateway sideways so it slices someone's head off... and then the head falls through the gateway lol

 

I remember reading recently that gateways only open vertically. That said, if an A'M could see said leader, it would be a simple matter to open a tiny gateway inside their skull, slicing the brain in half.

 

And as for warfare, I could see a lot of possibilities. One tactic would be similar to the raid on Illian, opening gateways just long enough to channel through them, then close.

 

Another option is opening gateways in front of Mat's Dragons with an ambush point as the destination, firing a volley, then close and repeat. The same would work for arrows or bolts.

 

That reminds me...WTH are the Legion of the Dragon up to these days? We haven't seen them since FoH.

[ValiantLovesWoT]

With weaves like Gateways, defensive options are limited unless the enemy has no channelers, only solution is a Geurrila warfare with small groups in the forest, possible with those Dragons(cannons) and crossbows to kill off any invaders in city's and forests with minimal losses.

 

As for sieges, If you know your enemy has channelers, it's useless so a frontal assault is desired before the siege tires your army.

 

However defending against trollocs is a easy case if no Forsaken with them, Just hold keypoints in the landscape with 4-5 lines of me lee with a backup consisting out of crossbows, Channelers and Dragons to punch holes in them and to just Balefire into the hoard to delete much trollocs.

 

Assaulting remains the same, unless channelers are present, then you should have lot of crossbows because a arrow kills them even as a ordinary soldier, maybe even faster because no armor.

 

That is what i think about tactics.

[jmikea]

IMHO the problem with war is that the leaders start it and the common troops die by the thousands. I think Rand, with advice from Mat, might change this.

 

"OK, rulers, here's a map. These are the borders between nations. If any nation sends troops onto another's soil, that nation's leader will die. Asha'man will gateway in and cap the sumbitch. OK, now that that's settled, let's go kill Shadowspawn."

 

 

easiest way to kill somebody, ever: open up a gateway in the middle of their head so it slices them in twain, and the two halves fall away like two slices of bread.

 

honestly idk why rand doesn't do this. pretty gruesome way to kill a man but it's instant death if you do it right :O or open a gateway sideways so it slices someone's head off... and then the head falls through the gateway lol

 

That's basically how Rand's/Lews Therin's Deathgates work. He takes it up a few notches with a moving gateway that expands and contracts as it moves through a crowd, but the concept is the same. Logain knows the weave too, but I doubt he's been teaching it to the other Asha'man.