CK2 getting closer to Game of Thrones

[nyah]

Yes I know war is messy and that surprise 20k men in the arse is a defeat and impressive to accomplish but there was more to war. Have you read the books or just being nitpicky?

I agree. Unfortunately war is really just about dull stuff, like logistics and management. There's no way those 20k men can get to the rear of the enemy without being given the order to do so, and the order being interpreted and implemented correctly, as well as ensuring all the soldiers have weapons and are supplied with ammunition, food, and equipment (such as that required to make camp and cook). Without sufficient organisation there is no way that enough men can be recruited and kept alive long enough to make a surprise attack.

 

[Robert II]

As a academic historian, I have read much of the literature, and indeed contributed to it as well. Essentially, the most powerful force of tactical potency before the advent of the modern rifle was discipline. A man who could could hold a force together was worth more than one who could come up with intuitive predictions and plans, because at the end of the day if you could know that a man could hold his force together in multiple actions on the battlefield, you would possess an anvil upon which to build. But even with such anvils the tactics remained limited to getting a local superiority to collapse morale. Not until the machine gun did you possess the technology to actually wipe out the enemy.

OK but what's that got to do with surprise your scouts missed the massive army coming to get you?

 

[Zarathustra_the]

Well to be honest, the 20,000 men in the arse may not be able to defeat you. We do have the classic accounts of the Gaulic Wars, in which Roman armies defeated massive barbarian armies by simply standing their ground. Morale was the key, finding the enemy was second to that.

There was a discussion some time ago about by the US Naval Academy about the importance of finding versus flanking, the conclusion being accurate knowledge of position tends to be more important than hitting them in the arse. However, that is also in the era of modern communications and weaponry. In classic and medieval period, the crucial element was enduring.

 

[TheDungen]

Next DLC: Dragons.

Actually to properly be like game of thrones there should be dragons but on a really long meantime to happen.