Nice little article regarding the great battle against the undead at the Gates of Winterfell.
Another good article from some actual military experts.
You mean a cavalry charge into the heart of the attack at the onset wasn’t the greatest use of assets?
And in the dark…of course it was.
Ahh, from what I could see of that episode I was wondering the same thing… I thought What the… 2 times… one on why I couldn’t see anything, lol, and two… what a terrible plan… then found this interesting read on wargamer.com…
https://www.wargamer.com/articles/game-of-thrones-military-strategy/
Except the plan is irrelevant, really.
What matters is the outcome the writers want. If they want a pyrrhic victory so that the characters win but have nothing left, that is what will happen. They could just as easily have had wights pop up from underground and kill all the same people with no fighting at all, or had Arya find the Night King standing on a ridge and sneak up and kill him before they even engaged.
In other words, unlike history where a different plan could result in a different outcome, in fiction the plan is there purely to fill time between “we’re going to have a battle soon” and “we won/lost”. That’s why sometimes they don’t even bother, such as when Jamie’s army crushed Highgarden. Not even any point showing it.
I’m sure if one examined it you’d find the number of military strategists working as writers is even lower than you think. The skillsets are not complimentary. I likewise wouldn’t expect a gourmet meal from Patton or Rommel. The number of military strategists with experience with dragons and ice zombies is also probably pretty small.
Sadly this is it. Like “Reverse Cinematic” you begin with the result and only care for that- how the battle goes on is (for writers) only filler…
Or as some say “Plot Armor is best armor” - if the character can’t die he can/will pull off all sort of sh!t.
Re.: Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Commando. Or Predator… or… you get it.
THAT SAID- I firmly believe that “sound tactics” and “spectacular/fantasy battles” are not mutually exclusive.
It would only need more time and money.
But alas, eventually it’s just a show.
I’m disappoint you didn’t choose Last Action Hero instead.
I provide disappoint on a daily basis.
That makes two of us.