Lessons in Combat Leadership and Tactics, Vol. 2

Bound in a crimson leather and bearing gold letter, the second volume in the series of combat has been bookmarked with a beautiful ribbon of sanguine silk, marking a lengthy passage on the effectiveness of morale on troops beneath the command of a proven general.

“Morale is the greatest single factor determining a successful war.”  Commander Astrid Marsh, during the Gorbesh Wars.

“Keeping a unit’s morale in the heat of battle is a very complicated thing.  The sight of a man taking on a superhuman effort to defend hearth and home is often enough to spur his comrades onto greater feats, or to shock the enemy into routing.  But watching that same perform his heroic deed in vain can be doubly disheartening to his brothers in arms.  One must take care that heroism and bravery do not bubble outward too far, and inspire a man to suicide for his cause.  War is not won by slaughtering your enemy wholesale, but by driving him from the field and breaking their spirit forevermore.

Panic spreads like wildfire among troops, causing even the boldest of veterans to eventually lay down their arms.  When facing an enemy from stand off range, utilize your artillery, your ballista and windlass and what have you, to focus on the enemy’s greenest troops.  In an ideal battle, you’ll never face their elite troops at all!  The greenhorns will flee before too long, causing fear and doubt among the rest.  Their battle lines will break, and you may ne’er lose a single defender!”