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Well, usually the bigger army are the invaders. Defence tends to have an edge AgentOrange Send a noteboard - 20/09/2009 04:38:45 PM
Though it depends on the era. Cannons made old style fortresses obsolete. Before that they were very hard to capture. This problem usually led to a king prefering to negotiate with local strongmen who held the castles. Resulting in feudalism.
It's not by chance that the strong central governments emerged after gunpowder weapons became mature. What I'm trying to say is that even in the real world it was very hard to capture castles. Siege weapons before gunpowder were ineffectual and usually it came down to starving your opponent.
OTOH fantasy does have it's offensive perks, like trolls or dragons. But you usually have something to negate them with.
Still, I can think of some rare examples of the bigger army winning.
Have you seen the original Heavy Metal movie? The evil horde of the green stone easily sacks a city.
You have the fight over the oil well in Road Warrior. Though it's sort of a tie.
I think Rand's Aiel had the number advantage on the Shaido in WoT.
The moredhel broke the defense of Armengar in A Darkness in Sethanon.
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Ever notice how in fantasy books the smaller army always wins? - 20/09/2009 01:01:18 PM 1222 Views
Well, usually the bigger army are the invaders. Defence tends to have an edge - 20/09/2009 04:38:45 PM 877 Views
It's an essential plot device - 20/09/2009 04:41:04 PM 881 Views
Yeah but... - 20/09/2009 07:38:36 PM 844 Views
I don't quite agree - 21/09/2009 01:22:45 AM 789 Views
I'm sitting here trying to think if I've read any books like that... - 21/09/2009 01:40:08 AM 717 Views
Fail. - 21/09/2009 04:43:24 AM 931 Views
Agreed. - 21/09/2009 04:59:39 AM 824 Views
Well there are plenty of authors not in their right minds - 21/09/2009 05:49:22 PM 745 Views
True. - 21/09/2009 06:50:43 PM 823 Views
Re: Ever notice how in fantasy books the smaller army always wins? - 20/09/2009 08:45:48 PM 983 Views
That, and... - 20/09/2009 09:08:48 PM 843 Views
Nineteen Eighty-Four, baby! - 20/09/2009 10:37:05 PM 778 Views
That is not even fantasy... - 21/09/2009 12:00:48 AM 776 Views
IT ISN'T?! *NM* - 21/09/2009 01:42:16 AM 331 Views
Yeah, didn't your dad tell you about the double ungood days of the 80s? *NM* - 21/09/2009 01:52:46 AM 319 Views
Doubleplusungood. - 25/09/2009 02:09:27 AM 775 Views
I agree. 1984 is not SF-F. *NM* - 25/09/2009 12:36:46 AM 327 Views
Who knew? ¯\(°O)/¯ *NM* - 25/09/2009 02:07:19 AM 314 Views
I... don't know what those symbols mean. *NM* - 26/09/2009 07:04:13 AM 345 Views
Wheel of Time? - 20/09/2009 11:52:36 PM 750 Views
I have not found that to be always true - 21/09/2009 12:52:00 AM 720 Views
The smaller army doesn't always win - 21/09/2009 02:47:07 AM 753 Views
Because you don't have to root for the huge army that's supposed to win. - 21/09/2009 04:38:22 AM 796 Views
everybody loves an under dog *NM* - 21/09/2009 03:51:12 PM 326 Views
Pratchett makes much of this. *NM* - 21/09/2009 04:11:04 PM 349 Views
Exactly what I was going to say - 27/09/2009 02:55:02 PM 839 Views

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