Battle of Winterfell: A tatical Analysis

[maverickasu]

This was too good not to post

The Battle of Winterfell: A Tactical Analysis

If you're going up against an army of the undead, maybe plan a little better.

www.wired.com

 

[Vargmat]

That was a good read.

 

[Switchblade]

Very accurate. I wonder if they did one for the Viking's assault on Paris where many tactical mistakes were made, and use of assets could have won the day if used right b making multiple areas of assault or faux assault drawing franc forces and splitting them into easier targets

 

[maverickasu]

Well done......Great analysis. If we learned anything Dragon Queen is not fit for command. My prediction is that she will not sit on the iron throne but most likely be killed. I feel there have been clues to this end.

I really thought it was the best 82 minutes of TV I had ever watched. 7+ years of character development really was put to great use. Yea the tactics were terrible but that was part of what made it so gripping. If you did not follow this for seven years of build up, I can see you may feel underwhelmed.

Interesting observation: Though the night king’s magic dies with him, the same is not so of the red priestess. Jon lives.....

Also it seems like they really blew their proverbial wad. How do they top this in the next battle. Everyone wants Arya to kill Cersei but that seems a bit much now. Predictable.

Folks think Jon will die but he has already done that......

I think one of two things... Blood and ashes for real... The two Targaryens marry, and burn cersi out...

Or, we get a situation where most of good leaders die off and we end up with like Gendry on the throne cause he is last left alive... And it's q big meh ending

That episode was better than most movies I've seen, with a few exceptions

 

[knuckleballz]

Looks like they still have 2 combat ready dragons. They will have to engage in a scorched earth air campaign. Maybe they will be reinforced by the lesbian fleet commanders people. Didn't look like there were many survivors aside from the main characters. I guess there were some armies of other houses that stood down that might join in the fight against kings landing

 

[knuckleballz]

The single volley by the artillery bothered me as well as its placement. As mentioned in the article, all the incompetent tactics and lack of leadership were disappointing. I still think it is a great series and am looking forward to the rest of the season. I binge watched the first 7 seasons over the winter on a 30 day free trial of Netflix.

 

[Jefe's Dope]

Spoiler Alert: ?

Not that I really know. But... 90% Jon and Sansa end up ruling the 7 Kingdoms together as King and Queen.

10% No Balls, Lord Varys not the unsullied, will end up King. Due to EVERYONE'S death. Which wouldn't surprise me as this show does not follow any traditional character plots. GRR is willing to kill anyone at anytime for any reason.

I'm in the middle of rewatching seasons 1-7. I was initially disappointed that we didn't finish before the start of season 8 but our schedule of rewatching is pleasantly lining up with season 8.

Best show ever. I said it after episode 1 and it remans true. It's not perfect but I'm reassured as I rewatch the entire series.

 

[supercorndogs]

The show stuck with its habit of killing all the best characters. Cerci will kill them all, again, just when you think she is about to get it.

 

[ArmyJerry]

Knightfall

 

[Loonhunter]

Spoiler Alert: ?

Not that I really know. But... 90% Jon and Sansa end up ruling the 7 Kingdoms together as King and Queen.

10% No Balls, Lord Varys not the unsullied, will end up King. Due to EVERYONE'S death. Which wouldn't surprise me as this show does not follow any traditional character plots. GRR is willing to kill anyone at anytime for any reason.

I'm in the middle of rewatching seasons 1-7. I was initially disappointed that we didn't finish before the start of season 8 but our schedule of rewatching is pleasantly lining up with season 8.

Best show ever. I said it after episode 1 and it remans true. It's not perfect but I'm reassured as I rewatch the entire series.

GRR doesn’t write the shows. As a matter of fact, the show has surpassed his books. Season 4(?) was the last season to be written that corresponds to a book. And while he has no contractual control over the writing, he did tell the producers how he wanted the series to end.
My guess-
Dragon lady on the iron throne.
Jon either king of, or warden of, the north. (Maybe a dragon each)
The hound will die killing his brother.
Cerci’s hired army will turn against her.
And hopefully, titties.

 

[pmclaine]

No need to teach Hollywood tactics.

Let them continue to believe themselves great Generals and LGOWI.

 

[Jefe's Dope]

GRR doesn’t write the shows. As a matter of fact, the show has surpassed his books. Season 4(?) was the last season to be written that corresponds to a book. And while he has no contractual control over the writing, he did tell the producers how he wanted the series to end.
My guess-
Dragon lady on the iron throne.
Jon either king of, or warden of, the north. (Maybe a dragon each)
The hound will die killing his brother.
Cerci’s hired army will turn against her.
And hopefully, titties.

I realize GRR isn't the writer for HBO but as you mentioned, he has wants and I'm guessing those wants are being met. My guess on this situation is that GRR provides his alternate ending for HBO and will reveal his ending when he finishes writing.

All this is just speculation on my part.

And there better be a lot of titties and violence. The show does both so well.

 

[Loonhunter]

I realize GRR isn't the writer for HBO but as you mentioned, he has wants and I'm guessing those wants are being met. My guess on this situation is that GRR provides his alternate ending for HBO and will reveal his ending when he finishes writing.

All this is just speculation on my part.

And there better be a lot of titties and violence. The show does both so well.

There is an internet conspiracy theory that little finger isn’t actually dead. Too long to describe here but who knows?
Is there 2 or 3 episodes left? I heard it was to be a short season.

 

[TheGerman]

Didn't read it, but give me a few basic answers and Ill give you how to fight them;

- Do the ice walkers or whatever have any kind of projectile weapon or indirect capability?
- Is there any 'magical' shit the ice walkers can do like turn the dead into ice walkers, or fly or kill you with their mind or some shit?
- Did the defenders get to pick their defensive area (castle, etc?) or is this kind of an open field clash with little time to prepare?
- Terrain layout; any features I should know about like, are we defending ontop of a gigantic mountain or are we backed up against the water, etc?
- Do you need something special to kill them, or do they die from swords and flying boulders like everyone else?
- If you do need something special to kill them; how much of it is currently available?
- How do you 'win'? You have to kill them all, is there a purpose to their attack (time related, goal related, other than just 'kill people') or blow up the Death Star first, or what?
- What assets are available to me? I'm assuming at least a metric ton of line infantry, some mounted cav and a few dragons.

 

[TheGerman]

Looks like they still have 2 combat ready dragons. They will have to engage in a scorched earth air campaign. Maybe they will be reinforced by the lesbian fleet commanders people. Didn't look like there were many survivors aside from the main characters. I guess there were some armies of other houses that stood down that might join in the fight against kings landing

Pfffft.

Everyone knows in a defensive setting, dragons are pure QRF until a counteroffensive.

 

[TonyTheTiger]

Terrible planning and tactics, so bad that my wife (a GOT superfan) thought it was stupid.
I like the show and am interested to see what happens but my enthusiasm really died down around season 5. The backstabbing, plot twists, main character deaths, bad guys you liked and good guys you didn't really dropped off.

 

[TheGerman]

The king has a spear. He used it to kill a dragon which he reanimated and is not his own f16.

The ice king reanimates the dead at will. Anyone he kills becomes part of his army. They also can summon a whiteout blizzard front.

Yes they chose winterfell castle as the Alamo.

Valerian steel, obsidian and fire kills them. They have a lot of obsidian.
Dothraki horde on horseback, unsullied army on foot, two dragons.....

The reanimate at will thing makes this retarded.

I was going to do a whole write-up on how to set up your layers of indirect, to stalling and fighting them until you can counterattack quoting actual used tactics from Vietnam on an enemy assault with superior numbers yet no indirect who is knowing trying to 'grab you by the belt' to fight, all the way through stalling maneuvers and QRF utilization a la Otto Carius and tipping Heinz Guderian's method of using fast moving assets (we'd use cavalry supported by dragons in our scenario) to break the now stalled lines and isolate pockets.

But fuck all that. Due to the reanimation thing you basically have 3 realistic choices:

- Develop an intel chain on the ice king. Once its known where he is and the size and location of his forces, start a guerrilla type diversionary attack on his assets to where he would commit some, but not all of his forces to. Do this as many times as possible, gauging the size of response each time and finesse this to get as much of his forces deployed, separately, while keeping command (ice king) at home. While the majority of his army is deployed elsewhere fixing 1000 little problems, send a force to kill him directly.

- Assassinate him

- Utilize post Cold War Russian doctrine, and send all of Daenerys' fanatical horde of freed communists at the ice king all at once with someone in the back constantly screaming, 'The one with the sword stabby stabs, when the one with the sword gets killed, the one that is following picks up the sword and stabby stabs"

Anything else is retarded at face value as you cannot win against an enemy that can die and come back to life at will, unless I'm misunderstanding as to how this works.

 

[Loonhunter]

The reanimate at will thing makes this retarded.

I was going to do a whole write-up on how to set up your layers of indirect, to stalling and fighting them until you can counterattack quoting actual used tactics from Vietnam on an enemy assault with superior numbers yet no indirect who is knowing trying to 'grab you by the belt' to fight, all the way through stalling maneuvers and QRF utilization a la Otto Carius and tipping Heinz Guderian's method of using fast moving assets (we'd use cavalry supported by dragons in our scenario) to break the now stalled lines and isolate pockets.

But fuck all that. Due to the reanimation thing you basically have 2 realistic choices:

- Develop an intel chain on the ice king. Once its known where he is and the size and location of his forces, start a guerrilla type diversionary attack on his assets to where he would commit some, but not all of his forces to. Do this as many times as possible, gauging the size of response each time and finesse this to get as much of his forces deployed, separately, while keeping command (ice king) at home. While the majority of his army is deployed elsewhere fixing 1000 little problems, send a force to kill him directly.

- Assassinate him

Anything else is retarded at face value as you cannot win against an enemy that can die and come back to life at will, unless I'm misunderstanding as to how this works.

That’s pretty much what happened. So, there’s that.
They knew he was going to target a specific person. So they waited for that to happen and killed him when he did.

 

[TheGerman]

That’s pretty much what happened. So, there’s that.

Which part?

I haven't watched GoT since the season where little assassin girl was at assassin camp.

 

[Loonhunter]

That’s pretty much what happened. So, there’s that.
They knew he was going to target a specific person. So they waited for that to happen and killed him when he did.

^^^edited^^^

 

[Ric O'shay]

I am too busy having a mildly inappropriate obsession with Villanelle from "Killing Eve" to watch GOT

 

[hlee]

@TheGerman They kind of did all three. They sent the Dothraki horse in an all out charge. Didn't work well. They also baited a trap with the one person the king really wanted to kill. Separated from his army, the assassin was able to assassinate.

 

[Loonhunter]

They were way out of they’re element. Should of stayed in Esteros where it was warm.

 

[sirhrmechanic]

Cheers, Sirhr

 

[FS1]

It's an effin story. Tactics are worthless when the writers have you losing. Tactics have no affect on the outcome. The outcome is decided by some guy or girl confused about their own sexuality and like Veer have mastered English composition. The only fight they have ever been in was that time someone stole their dildo. JMHO

 

[Holliday]

?

 

[Blue Sky Country]

It's an effin story. Tactics are worthless when the writers have you losing. Tactics have no affect on the outcome. The outcome is decided by some guy or girl confused about their own sexuality and like Veer have mastered English composition. The only fight they have ever been in was that time someone stole their dildo. JMHO

This.

Just like how the bad guys never hit where they are aiming at, despite having unlimited ammo and everyone doing mag dumps, but the hero pulls off one shot kills every time, even while dodging a hail of high velocity metal and using wooden chairs / tables as cover.

Cue the "Imperial Stormtrooper Academy of Marksmanship". One of the longest running bad guy tropes in film history...

Edited to add: Very soon we will have another much played movie trope: No matter how difficult the odds, the LGBTQXXX hero / heroine will always win. Not that hard to do when 98% of screenwriters today are SJW's.

 

[hlee]

Sometimes the good guys can't hit shit either. eg. The A-Team...

 

[Loonhunter]

It's an effin story. Tactics are worthless when the writers have you losing. Tactics have no affect on the outcome. The outcome is decided by some guy or girl confused about their own sexuality and like Veer have mastered English composition. The only fight they have ever been in was that time someone stole their dildo. JMHO

So do you mean to tell me it’s not real???
I thought this was non fiction.