Basically, these are my thoughts on how fantasy armies face off against modern armies since I was up against a guy who argued the fantasy army would win. A rant really...
Now first we should first generalize on the difference between the two military forces. I decided to bring the modern one first since its more relevant and its easier to understand due to the fact they exist.
Modern armies usually consist of units helping each other out in attempting the goals of combined arms. Mechanized and armored units blitzkrieg their way around hardpoints and smash through the vulnerable parts of an opposition's position and prevent any attempt of responses. Then the infantry follow up by clearing up the remaining positions with the help of artillery. At the same time, the skies are contested for control and whoever wins the skies holds air power to basically rain down whoever needs their help. Now that is the general stuff I like to begin with. I could go into detail, but I wanted to make a general idea. Example units like special forces, reconnaissance, paratroopers, are sort of like extras which help enhance or assist main general forces in whatever goal they are trying to achieve. For example, eliminating a similar battlegroup, taking a strongpoint away from the enemy or even win the war of attrition. That last part had some influence of World War One.
Now we will focus on a general fantasy army; however, there is a problem. It varies depending on the content presented. I'll name a few examples, Warhammer Fantasy or World of Warcraft. Though, I do notice a few things in that roughly have in common. There is the fantasy army which consists of swordsmen, spearmen, archers, cavalry, and siege equipment. Then they're enhanced by mages, magical creatures like griffons or dragons, sometimes there are creatures like ogres and orcs included into that category as auxiliaries. For those who don't know what an auxiliary is, they're like units who supplement a role which other units can't. To name a few, horse archers, berserkers, or golems. A real-life example of this is the Roman Legions using Germanians as scouts.
Hopefully, you all get the idea of a general modern and a fantasy army.
The first I would like to talk about is the technological difference. An obvious note to take into account. However, I would also have to take into account of magic since a reliance of magic can possibly help this low-tech army.
The person argued with began with magic which can turn the tide of battles with unimaginable power. That is true, but I noticed that magic is only given to a select few and that modern armies can take care of this matter by using snipers or even drones to kill from afar while eliminating the target of opportunity.
Then he argues that dragons and magical creatures can win a fantasy army's battles. However, I would agree with the statement, if it was against a similar low-tech army. In this case, I disagree completely because while it is true that creatures can terrify men, the great technological advantages in warfare can counter this.
So, dragons vs jets in the skies. Though the dragons would lose this fight since jets have high speeds and they often fight with long-range missiles, but when they get close the cannons are used. Now my opponent even said that dragons can use their fire-breathing specialty to take out the missiles and even mentioned that it could destroy a jet.
That being said, I countered by stating that even if it could do that. It can't take everything. Now depending on the content, dragons varies on size, armor, and capabilities. However, the general consensus on dragons is that it has wings, claws, and breathe fire. Even if the skin of the dragon it strong, it can't always handle against the power of the missiles and the hammering of cannon fire. I even went and stated that jets firing off flares can even disorient the beasts from maneuvering well.
Now we covered the air battle between jets and dragons, I'll get to the meaty part of this blog. Army vs Army against each other.
The person I argued against stated that mages could possibly get armies from one place to another and wreck modern armies. I really had to disagree with this since modern armies always have a quick response force to tackle such threats. Now what could possibly tackle fantasy armies? My first thoughts reminds me of a scene in a film called We Were Soldiers. For readers who don't know what this film is all about, its basically about U.S. Army soldiers flying into a valley and fighting a superior foe who outnumber them and constantly threw men at the American troops in every direction. That being said, if a mage could do such, snipers would pick them off since mages a selected few who hone their skill in teleporting armies into other places on the battlefield. Once the snipers get their shots off, you basically have a small mob of men who are going to get wrecked since they don't exactly have the means to hold out against quick responsive forces.
Now I imagine that scene and replace the Viet-Cong with swordsmen, spearmen, and archers trying to stop troops dismounting from helicopters. This is where I get to psychological part, shock and awe. For many this may not seem important, but it really is. It is similar as to how the natives of South America met the Spanish Conquistadors who arrived there. So many of the soldiers would be terrified of the sight of helicopters since they haven't had seen such before.
Then there are the 'terror' weapons which could possibly scar the mind of men who face a modern army. Flamethrowers, drones with hellfire missiles, and chemical warfare is terrifying enough to inspire fear into the hearts of men. Even beasts who are afraid of fire don't even have the means of holding out against such means. It falls into the terror category since you have these warriors who might get PTSD of seeing men dying from trying to breath, their foes who unleash flames, and an unseen enemy miles high in the sky.2263Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxqeIz6sw4Z
To make matters worse, modern armies have units who can camouflage themselves with the environment around them. This is something to consider since you have these heavily armored warriors who train themselves to fight a foe they see on the battlefield. Then it slowly doesn't become the case anymore if they're being killed by ghost-like soldiers.2263Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcaHvD71fBx
So you have these flaws in a fantasy armies which modern armies can take care of. However, I'll get into more detail about subjects which are not related to fighting, but a large-scale war. Logistics, handling civilians, replication of technology.
1) Logistics is something to consider for modern armies. It might not be important, but any army always needs someone to resupply and refuel their equipment and vehicles. Medieval fantasy armies are always on the move and have these food trains or supplies to ensure their armies or creatures are fed. However, there is one matter I must mention, mass-production. Modern armies rely on this since factories that can mass-produce bullets can allow modern armies to take risks of firing large amounts of ammunition without worry in the world. Where as fantasy armies have make their own supplies, fight battles and return home, and if they are desperate enough they will pillage places for their own needs.
2) Now this falls into handling civilians in the surrounding region. In medieval fantasy societies it is similar to our real-world medieval societies. However, it is limited since you have this hierarchy of who is who. Basically, everyone knows their place and those in the higher places sometimes take advantage over those who are under the hierarchy. This leads to resentment between people and during times of war, knights, warriors, and kings often demand their people to pay taxes or give up valuable supplies for the war effort at the cost of the people themselves. This is where modern armies sort of gain the upper hand. Initially, civilians would be hostile to modern soldiers, but they would simply be surprised about the restraint modern armies have when it comes to civilians. Now there will be cases that some soldier may take advantage over people, but these are isolated incidents. I also forgot to mention that there is a strict policy on mistreating civilians. If a soldier ends up killing a civilian, he would go to court marshal and deal with the matter of is he a threat. If not, it goes along with war crimes justice is served to civilians who are victims of their new occupiers.2263Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuxsbmPR8Lp
3) Reverse-engineering technology for fantasy medieval armies. I notice this in some fanfictions where there is a technologically superior foe and/or fantasy characters somehow pull schematics out of their ass or modern soldiers somehow mass-producing old-school weapons. This is probably me nitpicking this, but I completely despise this logic. It doesn't make sense, because even if said character knows this he won't always know on the back of his hand. For example, some soldier trying to teach a blacksmith how to replicate parts of a gun. Now the replication is easy, its trying make it the same quality as the modern version.
It's like trying to turn a musket into an AK-47. A blacksmith doesn't have the means to create such since he doesn't have the modern machinery to create it, and the concept of the weapon would be difficult to replicate since in these societies, no one has the knowledge of physics.
Here is my blog rant on how modern armies vs fantasy armies is going to be one-sided.
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