Game Of Thrones Battles Analyzed By A Military Expert

[@raymondrembert6870]

That Dothraki charge had him speechless for a few seconds lol.

[@DelightfulDiscs]

For me that was one of the most egregious parts of that episode. These are suppose to be smart people with amazing armies.. 1st move of the battle, lets charge our cavalry head on into certain death.. and of course they die.

[@DraconimLt]

@@DelightfulDiscs that seems to be the only cavalry tactic D and D know!

[@IdkMaybeShawn]

It was stupid on its face but it also left a big opportunity for that "last glimmer of hope" moment in the middle of the battle when it's looking pretty bad, and before the final downturn (which in D&D's version is that moment when the NK shrugs off dragonfire and raises all the new dead). Melisandre shows up surprisingly, you reveal the Dothraki had been held in reserve to this point, somewhere hiding on one of the flanks. And then she lights the Dothraki sabers on fire, and they charge. I guess it's pretty much the same as the Charge of the Rohirrim in the Return of the King, from a dramatic perspective.

[@mestupkid211986]

For the battle of the blackwater, they DO actually go over the currents and wind much earlier in the episode. The wind at their back, but the tidal currents against them

[@DraconimLt]

In the 'Battle of the Bastards', Jon's army had an easy way out of that encirclement though, THE GIANT. Wun Wun had all the pikes it front of him pointing up at his face. Either he could grab them and snap them like twigs or kick a way out, it was only 4 men deep (and only 2 had weapons). Even the men around him could have broken out there with sheer weight of numbers while the pikes were up above their heads! For that matter, if the writers hadn't had Davos stupidly order the reserve and archers to charge, they could have been firing arrows into the backs of the Bolton wall at this point and made an opening for them! It was just dumb!

[@attoboi9763]

or wun wun could have, as disgusting as it is, just chucked corpses at their line (or really anything on the ground he could reach, but if he just sat near the corpse piled and machine gunned it, mann), a handful of bodies would def knock over a hole in the line, and just do it over and over again. Battle of the bastards was not thought out well at all by either side

[@DraconimLt]

@@michaelunderhill8847 yeah, you can see that D and D etc have no understanding of basic tactics, (or even common sense it appears).

[@jarlnils435]

How about giving wun wun a tree as weapon? the "shield pike thing" would have been swiped away in seconds

[@DraconimLt]

@@jarlnils435 they 'kinda forgot' that the Giant could be given a weapon... 😐

[@temuulenamartuvshin1204]

​@@attoboi9763they could gave Wun Wun pretty long wood. So they could break whole army and won. Less death then what we got

[@DraconimLt]

Thermopolae had 'piles of bodies' because it was in a narrow location. That field is massive, the bodies wouldn't stack up like that because as bodies fell the fight would move so those still standing could find better footing.There might be huge casualties but not in huge walls that needed climbing over surely!

[@BlueHefner9]

It must be nice knowing more than a college professor despite not having put in any of the time and effort into years of study! 👏🏼

[@attoboi9763]

@@BlueHefner9 why you being a jagoff? The guy didn't go into great detail on why the bodies piled up at thermopolae, and the truth is because it was narrow and the men had time to pile them up, do you really think a group of guys in the battle of the bastards had the time and necessity to go grab a bunch of dead guys and bring them to the piles? true idiot

[@jarlnils435]

one of the reasons for that is, that horses don't climp mountains of corpses to die on top of it. and the first part of the battle was a cavalry battle. They would have fought each other until one side runs away

[@ExistentialWill]

@@BlueHefner9 What does this college professor say that actually confirms that the wall of bodies "naturally" formed by shooting arrows in one spot is a viable thing? It's not.

[@HammerOfKrieg]

I believe that the flagged bodies in the field were markers for the archers, so rather than just randomly shooting into the battle they were shooting in specific locations to “build the body piles” I havnt seen anyone mention this theory but it is what makes the most sense to me

[@damuvang1915]

Lmao season 8 military tactics were thrown out the window.

[@wizdumb_and_valor]

Catapults on the frontline

[@damuvang1915]

@@wizdumb_and_valor Trenches preventing their own retreat where they had to sacrifice the half of the rest of mad dragon lady’s army. Since we saw essentially the end of the Dothraki too. The writers of this show. ☠️ let’s look forward to the Targaryen tv show next.

[@jarlnils435]

they planned the battle in a way that victory was assured for the people D&D saw as the good guys. Wich are the white walkers. Than they thought that the good guys had also to suffer and so they let Arya jump from the sky and kill the night king

[@IdkMaybeShawn]

Don't forget the crypts. I honestly believe Jon would have instituted a law requiring all bodies burned as soon as he became King, even the ones in the crypt. But he definitely wouldn't have stuck people down there without clearing it out. Not to mention, you wouldn't stick anyone down there. Everyone is needed in a siege. There is a ton of work necessary to support the defending soldiers.

[@hadleybrine3429]

He seriously doesn't mention that the trenches were BEHIND the damn battalion?

[@aegonthedragon7303]

Probably couldn’t see it lmao

[@Boguardis]

This can easily be explained by the fact that by the time the horde is upon them, siege weapons would be useless and you can more easily retreat rather than advance. At least that's my theory.

[@silvershinemoon1146]

Kristian is the boss in security analysis and military affairs .

[@morrischma9565]

Stannis had to attack then as Tywin's force were moving south to reinforce making another assault very difficult or impossible.

[@kebabkebob7808]

Stannis didn’t know that though

[@Lunchbox224]

They kind of had to come up with a retcon for the show, as in the books those ships were actually trapped in the bay by a giant chain.

[@zoltanszaszi2264]

Which he didn't know. And even if he did, the smart choice would have been to withdraw and save his forces. That was true even before Tywin and the Tyrell army showed up. The fact that he was able to almost break through the walls of King's Landing was pretty inexplicable.

[@trazyntheinfinite9895]

brief answer: milirary tactics in got suck.

[@matiasrisatti670]

Also, about the dothraki charge, the most impactful effect of a cavalry charge is not it's lethality but the morale shock and formation disruption. But when you're fighting the living dead, there's no morale to break. And if you're fighting an undead horde, there's no formation to disrupt. Also, the dragons shoud've been raining fire since the first contact. I can understand taking some liberties when it comes to military tactics for dramatic effect, but the battle of winterfell was the worst. Not a single good decision was made.

[@bello9740]

the dothraki are armorless, short sword-wielding light cavalry and their plan is to use them as shock cavalry? this idea would've been terrible regardless of who they were facing.

[@matiasrisatti670]

@@bello9740 True dat

[@johnirby8847]

Alexander the great could've taken all of Westeros and the damn white walkers too...seriously...apparently in GOT universe they had no great ancient generals like a Caesar, Hannibal, Alexander, etc...or didn't even bother to remember their ancestors tactical/logistical/strategical accomplishments.

[@aegonthedragon7303]

They did have one: Stannis. Guy defeated the greatest naval force in this world by trapping them between two landmasses and had a plan to take the capital that only failed because two unpredictable forces (wildfire and Tywin’s host returning). Unfortunately the writers hated the character so they just killed him off stupidly.

[@matiasrisatti670]

And he woudn't even need dragons or obsidian.

[@creaysins1548]

The expert looks like Shroud...

[@johnirby8847]

There are several soldiers that don't even match the medieval time period. The Unsullied resemble some kind of ancient Greek hoplites...which were completely destroyed and replaced by the Macedonian phalanx by 350BC. The Dothraki resemble some kind of very early steppe people like the late Scythians or very early Sarmatians...which were replaced by heavy lancers and horse archers. The Bolton's appear to have a medieval pike unit...except they behave more like a phalanx unit...which would've been suicide against medieval heavy infantry...even the Roman manipole and cohort system would've absolutely destroyed the slow and lumbering advance of such an oddity...outflanking a medieval army with something that slow would've been near impossible. The battle of Cannae happened in ancient times and was mostly the fault of the stubborn Romans continuing to attack the same way...it was still cavalry that attacked their rear..not the slow advance of a phalanx. I can't find a single example of pikemen completely encircling an army in medieval times. Also the pikemen the Bolton's did use would've been a hard counter to heavy cavalry....it would've made more sense to have to have the pikes stand in a mile long line and push forward to prevent from being outflanked. There are so many things wrong it would take paragraphs to explain...🤦🏼‍♂️

[@AmericanImperium1776]

I mean George RR Martin himself took many different things from different points in history for his book series.

[@jarlnils435]

The unsullied in the book, when not armored by their owner, had no armor exept for a bronze cap with a spike. they had a small round shield and a short 6-7 foot spear. The normal greek hoblites had a helmet and a large shield together with a long spear of 8-9 foot. The richer the hoblite the better his equipment. But helmet, shield and spear was minimum. The next important part of armor were greaves, than the body armor made of bronze, linen or plated leather and later mail shirts. The Unsullied would fare very bad in a frontal fight against a greek hoblite phalanx as the most heavily armored hoblites were in the first four front ranks. They have one advantage over every other army. They do exactly what they are told to do and do not flee. If you tell them to charge, they do it. A sudden and fearless charge can disrupt enemy formations and break their morale. But if the enemy manages to hold the line, the unsullied are, with their lack of armor and small shields, not able to put much pressure on their opponents. They get slaughtered and can not deal damage back as good as their foes.

[@jarlnils435]

The Boltons should have put their pikemen together in one big block. Or more. Infantry with shields and spears at it's flanks, archers behind and cavalry in the rear to charge where they are needed or to beak back enemy cavalry. Than, attack snow's army with brutal force, smash as fast as possible into his center and let the pikemen push his army against the thickness of the forrest. The giant could be killed by massed volleys of arrows and the cavalry, too. After the enemy cavalry is dealt with, charge the own riders into Snow's flanks and break their morale. The rest will be a massacre. Than the knights of the Vale arrive and have to fight against a victorious army, armed with spears and pikes and in the possesion of a healthy cavalry and many archers. good by vale knights

[@PhilHug1]

"... aaaannnnd there all dead."

[@HammerOfKrieg]

I don’t think I’ve seen anyone mention this about the battle of the bastards, but those flayed bodies on fire in the field seemed like markers for the archers or even for Ramsey himself, it seemed to me like they were placed right where the body pile built up which made me think that was intentional. Especially considering how much practice and how much discipline the Bolton army had to be able to do the spear wall as effectively as they did.

[@Boguardis]

My biggest issue with the battle of the blackwater is how, for some weird reason, Tyrion and Davos are commanding the archers. As far as I know, they both have zero formal military training. So how would they know anything about how to command archers?

[@First_last988]

I mean Tyrion was the only thing Kings Landing had at the moment,which tells you all you need to know of their predicament and why it was a miracle they didnt loose the city. Remember all the Lannister force is fighting the one true king, dakingindanorf

[@retrodemogamer]

Daenery's is the Air force General in C and C generals.

[@koreancowboy42]

You just need a dagon to do everything its so easy to win battles.

[@marvellousigbineweka6830]

You obviously did not watch the series and spoke more about Greek fire and seige of Constantinople rather then the siege of kings landing. Stannis knew of the vulnerability; the mudgate.

[@edi9892]

The Dothraki charge could make sense, but not in the way he thinks... It was not uncommon to send out troops of questionable loyalty, poor discipline and mercenaries that are too costly to maintain for a prolonged siege, onto a su!c!de mission.

[@ExistentialWill]

So you're implying the Dothraki are all of the above? Nope.

[@ditw_music]

CENTER OF GRAVITY

[@ka-boom2083]

wildfire trebuchet wildfire trebuchet cluster bomb wildfire flamethrower wildfire grenades

[@liarnn3767]

muchas palabras para decir muy poco

[@AliDixon95]

BoB mount of bodies was so fucking dumb

[@SerjAdama]

Oh yeah lets avoid talking about anything illogical and stupid. Lets try to pretend that those are good battles...Jesus PG8 analysis

[@kebabkebob7808]

Next time watch the video before posting such a stupid comment

[@x123MissAnimeFreakx]

Did you even watch the video?

[@JarinCOD]

Well he actually called the shit that doesn't make any sense out.

[@rc59191]

It's wildfire not Greek fire there's no Greeks in Westeros lol.

[@KentVigilante]

Kratos walks through a portal and finds himself in Westeros and starts slaughtering everyone lol

[@edarion01]

This speaker is really annoying. Keeps on stuttering. Doesn't know what to say lol

[@edarion01]

@@BlazingBurrito2K yes I can.

[@edarion01]

@@BlazingBurrito2K not disclosing for privacy reasons. Also it's not the content but how he delivers it as well

[@edarion01]

@@BlazingBurrito2K no the internet is a public forum. I would rather not get doxed. But believe what you want !

[@edarion01]

@@BlazingBurrito2K that's exactly what I am. But you are free to believe what you want.

[@edarion01]

@@BlazingBurrito2K yes it is