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idilippy
Senior Scribe
USA
417 Posts |
 Posted - 10 Sep 2010 : 03:54:57
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I've got two major questions in mind for this scroll. First, I was wondering if there are any references or write ups on the most common tactics in use by the various military units of Faerun, specifically those involving the combination of arcane and divine magic and its effects on the usefulness of various military tactics of our world's history.
Considering that something as small as the stirrup considerably changed the face of warfare in earth's history I was wondering what the sages here though the impact of wizardry would be. Being able to, say, turn an area of ground into a mass of shifting and grasping plants with a handful of entangle spells would utterly decimate a cavalry charge, let alone walls of fire or ice. I imagine the impact of a few mid-level wizards on medieval warfare to be fairly similar to the impact a couple modern artillery pieces back to the dark ages, and I don't even want to consider the impact of dragon riders or powerful beings like demons or elementals who are immune to a common soldier's weapons.
My other question is related to strategy, specifically the area of logistics. While generic strategy should be applicable no matter what the technology or magic level I wonder what the impact of Portals and spells like teleport, create food and water, or even Tensor's floating disk would have on logistical concerns in warfare? Generally an army unwilling or unable to live off the land can only move as fast as its supply train and runs into major problems when overextended or during extended campaigns in unfriendly territory. The problem gets increasingly worse the further away from the source of supply, a situation which partially limits how far an army can travel before it gets too hard to support. However, with the knowledge of a few Portals or the ability for the army itself to carry more of its own supplies(through bags of holding, floating disks, phantom steeds, or whatever else can be thought of) an army should theoretically be much easier to support in the field and more capable of sustaining an extended campaign in a foreign nation.
Also, that same principle applies to sieges, which should either be much more difficult to support or much longer lasting in a land like Faerun. If a single portal to the city exists than a lifeline to the outside can be established to provide at least some relief from a siege, while clerics creating food and water should also be able to at least support a city's resources, even if for a short time. Adding in the fact that an army sitting still while besieging a city will be very vulnerable to magical strikes leads me to believe that the value of a siege in the Realms would be limited to smaller cities not possessing and sort of magical support, or would require the attacker to have enough magical power on hand to cancel out the effects of the defenders magic(and that doesn't even take into account the multitude of wizard, druid, and cleric spells which utterly eliminate the value of a city wall).
Obviously I am thinking way too deeply into this but as I am fascinated with history, specifically military history, I can't help but think of what the impact of magic could be. So again, if anyone has any links, theories of their own, or book recommendations which would help with the subject I'd appreciate hearing them.
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Ionik Knight
Learned Scribe
USA
222 Posts |
Posted - 10 Sep 2010 : 13:17:13
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Except for magical societies spells are, IMO, only good for short spurts. Tenser's floating disk, gates, portals and the like have a fairly brief duration for military purposes. And outside of a magical society, ie Thay, the number of spell casters is usually to limited to expend them on logistics. It would be rather painful to have used up your spell might on travel and then have to engage in battle on arrival. I believe magical items would be the preferred way to handle magical logistics: a decanter of endless water, a rod of alertness, rod of security, a staff of passage. These items would almost be worth more than a talented spell caster.
To apply magic items tactically would, I believe, require a significant number of them. They don't have to be very powerful though; the elves have demonstrated time and again how effective minor items can be with their cloaks and boots of elvenkind. If you have a limited number of casters/items it's probably best to use them for special action teams or as your ready reserve in battle. |
Fools to right of them,
Jesters to left of them,
Clowns in front of them
Pun'd and parody'd. |
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Faraer
Great Reader
3308 Posts |
Posted - 10 Sep 2010 : 14:30:56
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| We see some of the perils of attempting invasion via gate in Shadows of Doom. You have to do it covertly if you don't want to fight indefinitely to defend the gate itself, possibly both ends, from your known enemies and from the power groups who fight for control of gates, or against others' control, such as the servants of Mystra. That rules out large numbers of troops except in the very short term. You're risking a lot of magical dangers, from the unreliability of ancient magics to possession by discarnate entities and deliberate subversion. Objects taken through them are prone to vanish (see Swords of Dragonfire), so they aren't a secure supply line any more than they are for commercial goods. |
Edited by - Faraer on 10 Sep 2010 17:10:11 |
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Hoondatha
Great Reader
USA
2449 Posts |
Posted - 10 Sep 2010 : 16:25:47
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On the other hand, Myth Drannor was held by some of its military officers to be utterly indefensible, because they couldn't guard all of the gates that had been set up within it. Gates have always been a strategic nightmare for defenders (see Shadows of the Avatar for a brief discussion about it when Shadowdale is under attack).
We've had a couple of discussions about the impact of magic on warfare in the Realms. Two that come to mind instantly are the Waterdeep's Army and Waterdeep's Navy threads. Ignore the troll that started the threads; there's some good discussion by the rest of us about what you're asking. There are others as well.
From personal experience, I once was part of an Al'Qadim game based around a desert mercenary company. We made sure to recruit a lot of priests, who were given one primary task: creating water. The soldiers carried rations, but got their day's water every morning. This freed us from supply lines and allowed us to move at will through the deep desert. Drove the bandits nuts (before we killed them). But we also realized that while that might be practical for an elite mercenary company of a few hundred, the priest-to-soldier ratio was too small for it to be practical in the general army. Unless all of Zakhara went to war, of course, at which point you could pull enough priests out of the city temples to pull it off. |
Doggedly converting 3e back to what D&D should be...
Sigh... And now 4e as well. |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 10 Sep 2010 : 17:10:15
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Well, the Red Wizards have a Faerun-wide portal network now, although we are not entirely sure about its restrictions.
And Aurora's has had one for much longer, plus there are numerous permanent portals all over the place. It wouldn't be all that hard to move at least a small army by magic - Waterdeep would be ripe for such an attack.
But I would think that obscuring magic would be more resource-friendly for army movement, and the greater magics saved for attack and defense. |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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idilippy
Senior Scribe
USA
417 Posts |
Posted - 10 Sep 2010 : 19:41:26
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quote:
Originally posted by Ionik Knight
Except for magical societies spells are, IMO, only good for short spurts. Tenser's floating disk, gates, portals and the like have a fairly brief duration for military purposes. And outside of a magical society, ie Thay, the number of spell casters is usually to limited to expend them on logistics. It would be rather painful to have used up your spell might on travel and then have to engage in battle on arrival. I believe magical items would be the preferred way to handle magical logistics: a decanter of endless water, a rod of alertness, rod of security, a staff of passage. These items would almost be worth more than a talented spell caster.
True, you wouldn't want your only war wizard memorizing Tenser's floating disk in all his spell slots, but creating a wand that casts it, in 3e at least, would be quite cheap and would be good for 50 uses before expiring. Combining this with a system much like the Roman Legions after the Marian reforms, where the Legion was expected to carry everything it would need, and you have an army which can move a long distance away from its supply line while still remaining in top fighting form.
I realize that for most nations this wouldn't be feasible, but I had the nations of Thay and Halruaa in mind when I started this thread as glaring examples, with the Zhentarim as another which comes to mind. Simply put, I have a hard time seeing how those nations and groups seem to fail so often(putting aside the 2e trend of incompetent bad guys and super heroic PCs).
quote:
Originally posted by Faraer
We see some of the perils of attempting invasion via gate in Shadows of Doom. You have to do it covertly if you don't want to fight indefinitely to defend the gate itself, possibly both ends, from your known enemies and from the power groups who fight for control of gates, or against others' control, such as the servants of Mystra. That rules out large numbers of troops except in the very short term. You're risking a lot of magical dangers, from the unreliability of ancient magics to possession by discarnate entities and deliberate subversion. Objects taken through them are prone to vanish (see Swords of Dragonfire), so they aren't a secure supply line any more than they are for commercial goods.
Those are good points against casual portal use, though I could see the military applications being worth the inevitable losses and mistakes, especially when it comes to moving supplies around. Defending the exit of the Portal or Gate would be nothing new in warfare, anyone who attempts to take a bridge, castle, or beach runs into the problem of establishing a hold and then expanding it as quickly as possible. With the stealthy magics available such as invisibility, fog cloud, darkness, and more I would see it being a little easier to stealthily establish a presence on the other side of the portal with elite troops and then slowly moving out from there as more troops arrive.
Still, it would be risky, and with the number of Portals that require special keys or only work intermittently I could see it being useful only in some cases. Even if the key is as simple as carrying a rose while walking through you'd have to gather a lot of roses to move any significant number of people through. I haven't read Shadows of Doom in some time, maybe I'll read it over to see what I can find in there about this.
quote:
Originally posted by Hoondatha
On the other hand, Myth Drannor was held by some of its military officers to be utterly indefensible, because they couldn't guard all of the gates that had been set up within it. Gates have always been a strategic nightmare for defenders (see Shadows of the Avatar for a brief discussion about it when Shadowdale is under attack).
We've had a couple of discussions about the impact of magic on warfare in the Realms. Two that come to mind instantly are the Waterdeep's Army and Waterdeep's Navy threads. Ignore the troll that started the threads; there's some good discussion by the rest of us about what you're asking. There are others as well.
Interesting, another reason to read the Shadows of the Avatar series, and I could readily see how someone in charge of Defending a major city like Mth Drannor would despair over the number of Portals and gates set up within in when they already have to worry about the many mundane entrances into the city. I'll definitely check out the Army and Navy threads, I can ignore a troll for the sake of good discussion.
quote:
Originally posted by Markustay
Well, the Red Wizards have a Faerun-wide portal network now, although we are not entirely sure about its restrictions.
And Aurora's has had one for much longer, plus there are numerous permanent portals all over the place. It wouldn't be all that hard to move at least a small army by magic - Waterdeep would be ripe for such an attack.
But I would think that obscuring magic would be more resource-friendly for army movement, and the greater magics saved for attack and defense.
Yeah, the Red Wizards always seemed like they should be more successful than they are even counting their many disagreements and rivalries among the different Zulkir(Zulkirs? Zulki? Not sure what the plural of Zulkir would be). Yeah obscuring magic would have incredible tactical uses. I remember reading somewhere of a spell used to make a large number of people look like trees, and then there is the very useful invisibility, 10' radius or even darkness and fog cloud. If you could use this magic for even a smallish number of troops there'd be dozens of possible uses, from small ambushes to large scale battles. Illusions also could work, make an illusion of squads of soldiers to make your army look bigger, or illusions covering up soldiers to make it look smaller or to disguise or create bad terrain which forces your enemy to go around it.
Anyways, thanks for the thought so far and feel free to keep them coming, especially with tactical thoughts. Would various traditional military formations, such as a wall of pikes or massed cavalry, be too vulnerable to a single fireball or lightning bolt to be useful against anybody with decent magical strength or would armies have dedicated counterspellers whose only purpose was to ride or march with a group of cavalry and infantry and watch for a few specific spells which they are prepared to stop? If that was the case I could see a magical arms race being the key for large scale battles, where wizards are researching increasingly uncommon magics to get past the counterspelling attempts of their opponents. |
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Hoondatha
Great Reader
USA
2449 Posts |
Posted - 10 Sep 2010 : 19:52:15
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We had a long, drawn-out fight over the viability of shield walls and pike hedges in a world with fireballs and ice storms in another thread earlier this year. I'll see if I can find it for you. Good arguments were made on both sides.
My feeling is that both shield walls and looser, modern-day "skirmisher" type formations would be used. We know the shield wall exists, since we've seen it in Realms fiction (The Legacy, Masquerades, and Forsaken House come instantly to mind). Also, against massed hordes, it's pretty much your only choice for formations. I don't care how good your soldiers are, if they're dispersed in a loose line to guard against fireballs, an orc horde will roll over them without even noticing.
So your larger, more professional armies would likely train in both types of fighting, focusing more on one or the other depending on who their neighbors and common foes are. Less experienced armies would likely only train in one fashion, due to lack of time, resources, or interest.
edit: Well, it wasn't the thread I was looking for, but this has some interesting theoretical discussion about defending against wizards in an army situation.
http://forum.candlekeep.com/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=9406 |
Doggedly converting 3e back to what D&D should be...
Sigh... And now 4e as well. |
Edited by - Hoondatha on 10 Sep 2010 19:59:13 |
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idilippy
Senior Scribe
USA
417 Posts |
Posted - 10 Sep 2010 : 20:29:27
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Good point, I was thinking a shield wall would be useful still but anything that massed troops would be suicidal against an enemy's magic while being spread out would leave you to be decimated by a physical assault, as in your example about an orc horde. I like your thoughts about professional armies training for both types of combat and think I would take it a bit further. A professional army utilizing magic would have to be highly adaptable, shifting from a spread out formation to defend against magical assault to a closed formation once they are in close enough to enter melee combat. Also, an attacking army has to be highly mobile to close to melee range before they are decimated by magic so I could see heavier armor being much less useful except for mounted troops. It doesn't matter that heavy armor makes you much more resistant to swords and the like if you take so long getting to the enemy that he can target you with spells at his leisure. Perhaps this led to the more heavily armored shock troops being developed as dragoons, if not being exclusively cavalry. Riding in as close as possible to limit the time spent targeted by the mystical artillery of your enemy and then dismounting for combat seems like one way to offset the speed disadvantage of heavy armor in this case.
Thanks for the thread, between that and the Waterdeep threads hopefully I can turn something else up. Already from that thread I can see that natural bottlenecks would be much less useful to the defenders than in our history, or at least would have to be used differently, perhaps as choke points where invisible wizards can toss a cloudkill or fireball and slip away in the confusion, rather than points you try to hold with infantry. |
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Markustay
Realms Explorer extraordinaire
USA
15724 Posts |
Posted - 11 Sep 2010 : 01:25:03
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IIRC, King Azoun is a master tactician and has even written several volumes about tactics and warfare, including his book on Pike formations vs cavalry, referenced in Crusade.
The dwarves of Earthfast trained using his tome as a reference guide, and they were able to turn the tide of battle during the conflict with the Tuigan, thus proving the viability of shieldwall/phalanx formations against superior numbers and mounted troops alike.
Illusions were also used to great effect, hiding cav-traps that stood in the Tuigan's path.
The Tuigan were no slouches either - their scouting and reconnaissance was without peer, up to 100 miles out from their main march, and they purposely sought-out large magic-dead areas to camp within (and were VERY successful in that regard). |
"I have never in my life learned anything from any man who agreed with me" --- Dudley Field Malone
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idilippy
Senior Scribe
USA
417 Posts |
Posted - 11 Sep 2010 : 01:48:55
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| Hmm I'll have to read that then, I've never read the trilogy about the Horde so I'll take a look. The dead magic area sounds like a great idea for the Tuigan to counter the abundance of magic Cormyr should be able to bring to bear. I know that massed pike formations are a wonderful deterrent to cavalry I just wonder at their viability against mystical attack, but I guess if you know your enemy you can adapt your battlefield tactics to take advantage of his weaknesses and your strengths. |
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Hoondatha
Great Reader
USA
2449 Posts |
Posted - 11 Sep 2010 : 03:03:08
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Ah, but that's part of the brilliance of it. The Tuigan don't have spellcasters. None above five or ten, at least, and they aren't allied with the Khahan. Neither, for that matter, do the orcs much, which is who Torg the Ironlord of Earthfast was fighting with his pike hedges. Know your enemy, and your terrain. I imagine a phalanx would be one of the most powerful formations possible in underground warfare, as you could anchor your flanks against solid stone walls and eliminate many of the phalanax's inherent weaknesses.
I enjoyed Horselords and Crusade a great deal. Dragonwall, IMO, was less impressive, mainly because its main characters were Shou, and I found them less interesting than the Tuigan or Realms characters of the first and third books. Plus, the military campaigns were less fleshed out, IIRC, though it's been several years since I reread it. But the first and third I definitely recommend. |
Doggedly converting 3e back to what D&D should be...
Sigh... And now 4e as well. |
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idilippy
Senior Scribe
USA
417 Posts |
Posted - 11 Sep 2010 : 18:57:01
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quote:
Originally posted by Hoondatha
Ah, but that's part of the brilliance of it. The Tuigan don't have spellcasters. None above five or ten, at least, and they aren't allied with the Khahan. Neither, for that matter, do the orcs much, which is who Torg the Ironlord of Earthfast was fighting with his pike hedges. Know your enemy, and your terrain. I imagine a phalanx would be one of the most powerful formations possible in underground warfare, as you could anchor your flanks against solid stone walls and eliminate many of the phalanax's inherent weaknesses.
I didn't know the Tuigan don't have much in the way of casting ability, but in that case anything that worked in the real world should do just about as well or better in that war. I really should read those books. Also I agree with you about the phalanx underground, I could imagine dwarves with their inherent toughness and skill with weapon and armor crafting being just about unstoppable once anchored to a wall in a narrow cavern, especially with their innate protection from spells helping keep them alive and untouched by some of the spells their enemies could use. I never thought of them as a phalanx fighting race mostly because of their typical representation using an axe or warhammer, both of which need a bit more space to swing around than the spears or short swords of traditional phalanxes which, if I understand correctly from history, don't need nearly as much space to get a killing blow in as they rely on just piercing to a vital organ rather than blunt trauma or hacking into someone. |
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Dalor Darden
Great Reader
USA
4211 Posts |
Posted - 11 Sep 2010 : 22:12:59
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The true killing power of the phalanx was mass. If your exerted strength and weight overpowered your enemy, then they would either break and flee or fall and die beneath you.
It is one of the reasons the Greeks didn't like to fight "to the death" because if their lines broke, the battle was over one way or another. Rarely did you find pockets of fighting that continued once the phalanx was broken.
Dwarven Phalanxes then, under any rule system which gives them a bonus versus being overrun or pushed would make them the finest phalanx fighters in the world. |
The Old Grey Box and AD&D for me! |
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Aulduron
Learned Scribe
USA
343 Posts |
Posted - 12 Sep 2010 : 00:40:05
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Bregan D'aetrth uses gates with great success.
The Last Mythal series had large armies with great magical might, used permanent gates to move from campaign to campaign, and had to deal with an enemy who could potentially gate in as many as they wanted, wherever they wanted. |
"Those with talent become wizards, Those without talent spend their lives praying for it"
-Procopio Septus |
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Bladewind
Master of Realmslore
Netherlands
1280 Posts |
Posted - 14 Sep 2010 : 00:20:14
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The Sembian mercenaries called "the Blades" in Kemp's Twilight War trilogy are a good example of elite military units in Fearun. They are highly mobile because they operate largely on horseback, adaptable because of extensive wand and spell use, and pack serious closerange punch through exercising martial expertise in meriads of ranged and melee weapons. Night and day, in forests or rural lands they are able to tactically employ their best assets every time they act.
In one scene they succesfuly chase and harras a small military company on the move on roads between Sembian cities but suffer some disastrous setbacks during the assault. The Blades first advance in a very specific formation, a crescent shaped line of melee cavalry with a line of cavalry archers inside it, trailed by a "tail" of a spellcaster, 3 priests and commander Lorgan, also on horseback. This crescant formation still suffers when lightning wands are used against it, but the cavalry archers can respond quickly to spellthreats with arrows meant to kill or disrupt. They are quickly forced out this formation by a clever use of a stone to mud spell on the road by a rival priest but their crescant formation ensures a great deal of their shocktroops can reach their enemies as intended.
I think tactical maneuverabilty on the field of battle can be a great deal more important and fastpaced on sword and sorcery worlds than earths historic battles can show us. This would lead to armies needing to be highly adaptable, being able to change formations and tactics at a moments notice, depending on what the immediate battleground presents as threats. Offence would be based on mixed formations or legions bolstered by divine and arcane spellcaters in sieges and largescale battles to deal with the various tactics that can be used in (city)defence. Breaking wards such as spellstrengthened citygates can be just as important as building that battering ram, but that ram is still cheaper and easier to use to splinter that wood and bring your army to bear. |
My campaign sketches
Druidic Groves
Creature Feature: Giant Spiders |
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Knight of the Gate
Senior Scribe
USA
624 Posts |
Posted - 14 Sep 2010 : 04:48:46
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As Bladewind says, I think that the watchword for large, well-funded and -trained military units (i.e. Purple Dragons, the Red Plumes, the Flaming Fist, Zhentilar, et. al) would be 'operational flexibility'. I can see, for instance, where halbardiers would be of great utility in this regard: You can use a halberd much like a spear in close formation (especially if you've shored the formation up with a shield-wall, which the halbardiers work behind) but also when employing a 'defensive dispersal' you can spread out a bit (say at 5' intervals) and still support one another.
Another thought:One of the key developments with firearms was that not only did they necessitate the dispersal of forces on a small-unit scale, but they also *enabled* just such a dispersal. I no longer need to be within arms length of my comrade to eliminate a threat to him; I just need line of sight. With this in mind, I imagine that more modern formations would prevail amongst magic-enabled elite units like the 'Blades' that Bladewind mentions above or a group of highknights, etc; any group that can arm its members with myriad wands and items in addition to having melee and ranged combat expertise.
Outside of the large nation-state or successful merc operations, small village/hamlet militias would no doubt rely heavily on skirmishers against larger, better equipped and trained groups (i.e. Dalesmen v. Zhents). In my game, this sort of guerilla warfare is known amongst Dalesmen as 'Elf-fighting' and can be either a compliment ('Longthorn the Ranger is the best Elf-fighter in the whole of Deepingdale') or an insult ('Lashan was a liar, a cheat, and an Elf-fighter'- meaning roughly 'bushwhacker') depending on what dale you're in. In any case, you'd see farmer-warriors using their superior knowledge of terrain, ability to live off of the land, and hard-won skill with ranged weapons and stealth to stage hit-and-run strikes- aiming mainly for supply lines and (especially) at the horses of sleeping cavalry.
On the subject of magic in warfare itself, I would think that mages, being 'glass cannons' would be considered 'strategic assets', meaning that no officer under the rank of colonel (or its Realms equivalent) would have access to their services, and the mages themselves would likely be officers of middling rank. It's like calling in an airstrike: A sergeant is the one who calls for it, but it's ordered by a colonel and conducted by a captain. For the most part, I see mages as being used to considerably bolster garrisons of great importance, advise field-grade officers on magical threats, and providing long-range fire support or rear-echelon logistical aid. The best example of the latter that springs to mind is *reduce object*- a few castings thereof would make moving siege engines to better positions an order of magnitude easier than doing by hand. The problem with arcane casters is that they take decades and tens of thousands of gold to train, and a single axe-blow to fell, so I believe that they would be sent to the front only 1) in utter desperation or 2)by magically-mighty and -prolific militaries such as the Thayvians or Halruuans. Divine casters, OTOH, are far more robust and can take advantage of good armor. I doubt that many clerics serve in the standing armies of the great nations (except certain warlike or government-sponsored faiths, like Tempus, Torm, the Red Knight, or Bane, or clerics of Mystra and Selune in Silverymoon). In most cases, I imagine the clergy to be in service to a temple in the land, who are then seconded to the command of the military, but not really part of it.
I have other thoughts, but this is already becoming a wall of text so I will sign off for now. |
How can life be so bountiful, providing such sublime rewards for mediocrity? -Umberto Ecco |
Edited by - Knight of the Gate on 14 Sep 2010 04:54:25 |
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idilippy
Senior Scribe
USA
417 Posts |
Posted - 14 Sep 2010 : 05:34:34
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| Thanks for your post Knight of the Gate, and your great points. Other than a minor quibble about firearms I think I can agree with everything you said, the development of firearms did not call for the dispersal of troops on a small scale until firearms had become accurate and reliable enough to negate the need for massed fire. Still, I get your point and I agree that battles against magic-heavy armies such as those of Thay or Halruua would require tactics much closer to those suited for more modern armies than medieval ones. I like your take on 'elf-fighting' and could easily see the Daleland armies and militia being trained in skirmisher and guerrilla tactics rather than conventional ones. Without using their terrain advantage and the use of adventurers to supplement their soldiers with magical power there'd be no reason why the Dales would be able to resist the might of the Zhentarim and their wizards, priests, and well trained, highly disciplined soldiers. I'd imagine concealing terrain such as jungle, heavy forests, or perhaps mountains being the preferred fighting ground against magically powerful armies to lower the line of sight for enemy mages and force them to expose themselves to the dangers of close combat if they wish to cast any of their spells. |
Edited by - idilippy on 14 Sep 2010 05:35:48 |
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Kentinal
Great Reader
4686 Posts |
Posted - 14 Sep 2010 : 07:24:01
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Every time I look at this I start to write a reply. the use of tactics is based on what you have against what you face.
Knights vs. Orcs a lance charge on flat land stands a good chance for the Knights, unless the Orcs place spikes or pits.
Siege, use of move Earth and Earthquake clearly can add to the an attack. A siege of course designed to starve foe forces, with magic there will always be enough food for some, maybe enough to maintain defense.
All in all it comes down to it depends on opposing forces and intended goal. Tactics f any military group will be different based on the foe before them and the reason for the attack. |
"Small beings can have small wisdom," the dragon said. "And small wise beings are better than small fools. Listen: Wisdom is caring for afterwards."
"Caring for afterwards ...? Ker repeated this without understanding.
"After action, afterwards," the dragon said. "Choose the afterwards first, then the action. Fools choose action first."
"Judgement" copyright 2003 by Elizabeth Moon |
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Strategy and Tactics in the Realms
