Several people have pointed out the difference between the very different fighting styles that are effective in the many to many and one on one situations - ie hoplite tactics work en masse, but not one on one, martial arts dual sai tactics or fencing styles work one on one but not en masse.
What is worth pointing out, however, is that there are other fighting styles that are most effective for one vs many that are different to either. Some martial styles teach those as well. Aikido schools emphasise this particularly, and I have several times seen Aikido schools demonstrate one good fighter fighting several. Its great to watch, and relies primarily on keeping moving very fast, and manouvering so that your opponents find it difficult to get to you all at once. Its also worth watching a few Jacky Chan films for a more heroic (and less realistic) use of these sort of techniques. Hell, its worth watching Jacky Chan films for any reason, if you haven't seen Drunken Master 2 just get it out and watch it now.
Obligatory RQ specific note - this would be exactly the sort of thing covered by the RQ4 Manouver skill. Ob RQ note 2 - its generally acknowledged that numbers tell in RQ combat, and if manouvering your opponents against one another is the best tactic to use in the real world, perhaps we should give some thought to how to achieve this in our RQ games.
Cheers
David
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