The primary tactic was to get as many fighters at the point of attack as possible. The weapons and armor changed, sometimes for cultural reasons, sometimes for tactical or technological, but the basic premise remained the same. Prior to the middle of the 14 th Century and the dawn of cannon on the battlefield, warfare basically consisted of blunt or edged weapons. If we begin in the age of edged weapons, where many fantasy books are set, the tactics tend to be relatively simple. I’m going to pull a lot of my examples from European military history, as that’s a fairly standard fantasy trope, but you can find many of the same lessons from other regions as well, on slightly different timelines. When they see something does work, they’ll continue doing it right up until the point where their opponent makes a change. When they see something doesn’t work, they make a change. The most effective military leaders are those who see the potential for change first and act to take advantage. Military leaders will take the technology available to them and figure out the most effective way to employ it through study, or experimentation. He would like to thank his friend, writer Morgan Levine, for key contributions to this post. His current work-in-progress, PLANETSIDE, is a science-fiction mystery that is either almost done, or will never be finished, depending on the day of the week.
Michael Mammay has served as an active duty US Army officer for the past 25 years, and holds a master’s degree in military history. Please join the mailing list to be notified every time new content is posted.
Each week, we tackle one of the scientific or technological concepts pervasive in sci-fi (space travel, genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, etc.) with input from an expert. This article is part of the Science in Sci-fi, Fact in Fantasyblog series.
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