Roger comments:
> To get back on topic I think there is an analogy here with the Lunars in
Many Heartland Corps units are adept at light infantry tactics, some are even Highlanders like the Valken Hill Walkers of Arir or the Bisosae of Worion. In addition to those few unusual units, the Provincial army is stuffed with highland or rough terrain units.
>(although somehow I can't see traditional Dara Happan hoplites doing
True! Though most of them hail from peasant or city working stock, they are elevated above menial manual labour by their belonging to the regimental cult.
>- modern Lunar units are probably more Roman
Many are as equally prideful as the DHs, some even more so. None of the 7 silver regiments would ever sully themselves with dirt. However, you are right in that most modern lunar units do display a higher degree of flexibility than their DH or Daxdarian cousins. Partly this comes from a built in understanding of the vexilla system, something the older units lack and resist.
> This is of course also pretty much how the Red Army behaved for most of
> their time in Afghanistan...
Though part of the Soviet army's problem in afghanistan was that their doctrine was designed for western warfare in Europe and their training of the conscripts was based on that. By the time a soldier was retrained for Afghan style warfare and had a couple of months experience, he was sent home as he term was up. In other words, though they understood the issues that arose in Afghanistan, the Soviets suffered systemic handicaps that were hard to overcome without radical changes in the _rest_ of their army which was still prepared for a conflict with NATO.
The Imperial Army in its Dragon Pass campaigns is a far more heterogenous force than the Soviet army ever was. There are many different fighting styles in the Imperial and Provincial forces that make flexibility easy to achieve. So systemically the Empire has a far easier time of fighting in a guerilla war than say the Romans or the Soviets ever would. Where they do have issues is when for _political_ rather than military reasons command is given to those ill suited to that kind of war. Such as Tatius. Tatius being a DH would see the march of the phalanx and the gleaming ranks of battle as being the ultimate form of war and though he might be flexible in some ways, he cannot concieve of a more perfect way of fighting and will always strive to force his enemies into his own decision cycle rather than determine the best way of defeating them.
Martin Laurie
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