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[[folder:Toys]]
* In Hong Kong-based toyline, Acid Rain World, factions such as the Agurts federation and Omangan empire have this dynamic with their military. The Agurts rely on their militia elements such as the Sand Troopers for the bulk of combat while their Spec Ops such as the Bucks Troopers and Zodiac Marksmen are the last line of defense. Meanwhile for Omangans, their conscript elements such as the Gendarmes are basically cannonfodder to throw at the enemy until they collapse. But the Omangans' real fighting force is the Abbadon Army - the soldiers in this elite army are either combat robots (a.k.a Puppets) or have been made into cyborgs and the Abbadon Army has its special branch of SuperSoldier called the Reborn Troopers, who are first subjected to genetic engineering before undergoing the Omangan's most extensive bionics program.
[[/folder]]
* In Hong Kong-based toyline, Acid Rain World, factions such as the Agurts federation and Omangan empire have this dynamic with their military. The Agurts rely on their militia elements such as the Sand Troopers for the bulk of combat while their Spec Ops such as the Bucks Troopers and Zodiac Marksmen are the last line of defense. Meanwhile for Omangans, their conscript elements such as the Gendarmes are basically cannonfodder to throw at the enemy until they collapse. But the Omangans' real fighting force is the Abbadon Army - the soldiers in this elite army are either combat robots (a.k.a Puppets) or have been made into cyborgs and the Abbadon Army has its special branch of SuperSoldier called the Reborn Troopers, who are first subjected to genetic engineering before undergoing the Omangan's most extensive bionics program.
[[/folder]]
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* The Jomsvikings in ''Manga/VinlandSaga'', a mercenary band from the Baltic Sea that allows only the strongest fighters in Scandinavia to join their ranks. While still little more than {{mooks}} when battling named characters, their bonafides against other armies is demonstrated in the second arc where sixty Jomsvikings take on around three hundred armed civilians and rout them with less than five casualties (inflicted on them by a named character).
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* The Jomsvikings in ''Manga/VinlandSaga'', a mercenary band from the Baltic Sea that allows only the strongest fighters in Scandinavia to join their ranks. While still little more than {{mooks}} when battling named characters, their bonafides against other armies is demonstrated in the second arc where sixty seventy Jomsvikings take on around over three hundred armed civilians and outlaws. The Jomsvikings rout them with less than five while one suffering eight casualties (inflicted (most if not all inflicted on them by a named character).character who is implied to have once been part of [[PraetorianGuard an elite bodyguard unit]]), and killing more than 120 of their opponents. And that's only counting those dead on the field, not the injured or those who would have died of wounds away from the battlefield.
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* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'': While most Ishgardian military affairs are handled by the Temple Knights, the Order of the Knights Dragoon are Ishgard's elite soldiers specially trained to hunt and kill dragons. Trained from an early age, the dragoons are famous for spectacular ability to leap tremendous distances to chase dragons who would otherwise flee into the sky. At the head of them is the Azure Dragoon, the greatst dragoon of the generation empowered by the Eye to face dragons as powerful as Nidhogg on near-even terms.
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* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'': While most Ishgardian military affairs are handled by the Temple Knights, the Order of the Knights Dragoon are Ishgard's elite soldiers specially trained to hunt and kill dragons. Trained from an early age, the dragoons are famous for spectacular their ability to leap tremendous distances to chase dragons who would otherwise flee into the sky. At the head of them is the Azure Dragoon, the greatst dragoon of the generation empowered by the Eye to face dragons as powerful as Nidhogg on near-even terms.
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* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'': While most Ishgardian military affairs are handled by the Temple Knights, the Order of the Knights Dragoon are Ishgard's elite soldiers specially trained to hunt and kill dragons. Trained from an early age, the dragoons are famous for spectacular ability to leap tremendous distances to chase dragons who would otherwise flee into the sky. At the head of them is the Azure Dragoon, the greatst dragoon of the generation empowered by the Eye to face dragons as powerful as Nidhogg on near-even terms.
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* Due to their comparatively little population and little military culture, Carthage fielded armies formed by large masses of vassals and mercenaries of various elite status. Their best people were usually their Hispanic troops (their medium cavalry had no real match to this side of Persia, and their line infantry came with such deadly swords that the Romans adopted them as soon as possible), as well as the Numidians (who had horses just as fast and absolutely excelled in hit-and-run tactics). This sometimes included Lybians, a rather mediocre heavy infantry division that could however shine when applied in the right moments and places of the battle. Unfortunately for Carthage during the UsefulNotes/PunicWars, not even this could compensate that, aside from basically Hamilcar and UsefulNotes/HannibalBarca, Carthage never had strategists to match.
** The city also used to have a citizen unit named the Sacred Band (similar to that of Thebes, although apparently without the BattleCouple aspect), although, in a subversion, it was elite only in name, having a really lackluster record before being disbanded.
** At the time of the first Punic war, the Carthaginian navy was so prestigious that modern estimates believe they might have been a match for Xerxes' fleets during the UsefulNotes/GrecoPersianWars. However, the Romans constantly learned from their engagements with the Carthaginian ships, such that the effectiveness of Roman warships increased dramatically from the war's beginning to the war's end.
* The army of the Spanish Empire was composed of many nationalities, among them Spaniards, Italians, Germans, Dutch and some others. The Germans in particular were considered some of their best line troops, especially the famed ''lansquenete'' mercenaries, which UsefulNotes/GonzaloFernandezDeCordoba used to great effect in his reorganization of the Spanish army. Reportedly, UsefulNotes/FernandoAlvarezDeToledoYPimentel told in one of his letters to King UsefulNotes/PhilipII that "...please don't send me any more Italians, because it will be lost money; but send me all the German mercenaries you can get".
* In the first decades of the 16th century, Spanish conquistadors had overwhelming military advantages over the native American peoples. The Iberians belonged to a more militarily advanced civilization with better techniques, tools, firearms, artillery, steel, and domesticated lifeforms (horses and mules carried them, pigs fed them, and dogs fought for them, while the European diseases they brought didn't affect them as much). As a result, small armies of just a few hundred Spaniards often engaged successfully indigenous forces reaching the five digits, helped by the fact that the Spanish side could win just by breaking their enemies' will after steamrolling the first engagements (throw it in that people of Mesoamerica rarely fought total wars, limiting themselves to so-called "flower wars", whose purpose was to collect prisoners to sacrifice to the gods, so fighting long campaigns of attrittion was alien to them). After the first alliances between natives and Spaniards, such those signed by UsefulNotes/VascoNunezDeBalboa and UsefulNotes/HernanCortez, conquistador armies became a multi-national issue, with a small core of Spaniards acting as the tip of the spear and a much larger host of indigenous allies acting as support.
** The Confederacy of Tlaxcala, the rival to the Aztec Empire that backed Cortés for most of his campaigns, also had their own army division. They would use his main army to serious engagements, but for frontier scuffles they would first trusting on forces of Otomí and Chontal Mayan vassals.
** In the Inca Empire, the Cañari tribe usually provided the best warriors, to the point Emperor Huáscar formed his PraetorianGuard with them. When his brother Atahualpa rose against him and took his throne, the Cañaris remained loyal to Huáscar for his good treatment, leading Atahualpa to inflict gigantic vendettas on them to make a point... [[DidntThinkThisThrough which backfired spectacularly]] upon the arrival of UsefulNotes/FranciscoPizarro, who found in the resentful tribesmen his best allies.
* The Portuguese conquests in Asia in the 16th century. The Portuguese were usually outnumbered ten to one or more, consisted solely of light infantry (as all the forces had to be seaborne, not the best environment for cavalry and pike blocks), and unlike the Native Americans, the Muslim states they were fighting had steel, horses, and gunpowder. The Portuguese however had superior armor (nearly all had partial plate, while only the elites in South and Southeast Asia got any metal armor, usually mail), better guns (most of their enemies had primitive gunpowder weapons, though some had arquebuses more or less on par with what they were using), ''infinitely'' better ships (to the point that single Portuguese ships often wiped out entire Indian fleets due to superior speed and armament), and, perhaps most importantly, superior men, with the Portuguese soldiery being widely feared and exhibiting morale and skill that their enemies could never match. On top of that, the Portuguese had massively superior artillery in both range and power, and their star forts were unheard of in the region and near-impossible for their enemies to take by storm. All of this led to small Portuguese forces of a few hundred marines in a handful of ships routinely smashing entire state militaries, as happened in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_conquest_of_Goa Goa]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_conquest_of_Ormuz Ormuz]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Diu_(1538) Diu]] ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Diu_(1546) repeatedly]]), [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cochin_(1504) Cochin]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Malacca_(1511) Malacca]] ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Malacca_(1568) repeatedly]]), [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Johor_(1587) Johor]], and elsewhere. The fact that the Portuguese were able to maintain their rule for centuries, even in the face of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_League_of_the_Indies powerful enemy coalitions]], is also telling.
** The city also used to have a citizen unit named the Sacred Band (similar to that of Thebes, although apparently without the BattleCouple aspect), although, in a subversion, it was elite only in name, having a really lackluster record before being disbanded.
** At the time of the first Punic war, the Carthaginian navy was so prestigious that modern estimates believe they might have been a match for Xerxes' fleets during the UsefulNotes/GrecoPersianWars. However, the Romans constantly learned from their engagements with the Carthaginian ships, such that the effectiveness of Roman warships increased dramatically from the war's beginning to the war's end.
* The army of the Spanish Empire was composed of many nationalities, among them Spaniards, Italians, Germans, Dutch and some others. The Germans in particular were considered some of their best line troops, especially the famed ''lansquenete'' mercenaries, which UsefulNotes/GonzaloFernandezDeCordoba used to great effect in his reorganization of the Spanish army. Reportedly, UsefulNotes/FernandoAlvarezDeToledoYPimentel told in one of his letters to King UsefulNotes/PhilipII that "...please don't send me any more Italians, because it will be lost money; but send me all the German mercenaries you can get".
* In the first decades of the 16th century, Spanish conquistadors had overwhelming military advantages over the native American peoples. The Iberians belonged to a more militarily advanced civilization with better techniques, tools, firearms, artillery, steel, and domesticated lifeforms (horses and mules carried them, pigs fed them, and dogs fought for them, while the European diseases they brought didn't affect them as much). As a result, small armies of just a few hundred Spaniards often engaged successfully indigenous forces reaching the five digits, helped by the fact that the Spanish side could win just by breaking their enemies' will after steamrolling the first engagements (throw it in that people of Mesoamerica rarely fought total wars, limiting themselves to so-called "flower wars", whose purpose was to collect prisoners to sacrifice to the gods, so fighting long campaigns of attrittion was alien to them). After the first alliances between natives and Spaniards, such those signed by UsefulNotes/VascoNunezDeBalboa and UsefulNotes/HernanCortez, conquistador armies became a multi-national issue, with a small core of Spaniards acting as the tip of the spear and a much larger host of indigenous allies acting as support.
** The Confederacy of Tlaxcala, the rival to the Aztec Empire that backed Cortés for most of his campaigns, also had their own army division. They would use his main army to serious engagements, but for frontier scuffles they would first trusting on forces of Otomí and Chontal Mayan vassals.
** In the Inca Empire, the Cañari tribe usually provided the best warriors, to the point Emperor Huáscar formed his PraetorianGuard with them. When his brother Atahualpa rose against him and took his throne, the Cañaris remained loyal to Huáscar for his good treatment, leading Atahualpa to inflict gigantic vendettas on them to make a point... [[DidntThinkThisThrough which backfired spectacularly]] upon the arrival of UsefulNotes/FranciscoPizarro, who found in the resentful tribesmen his best allies.
* The Portuguese conquests in Asia in the 16th century. The Portuguese were usually outnumbered ten to one or more, consisted solely of light infantry (as all the forces had to be seaborne, not the best environment for cavalry and pike blocks), and unlike the Native Americans, the Muslim states they were fighting had steel, horses, and gunpowder. The Portuguese however had superior armor (nearly all had partial plate, while only the elites in South and Southeast Asia got any metal armor, usually mail), better guns (most of their enemies had primitive gunpowder weapons, though some had arquebuses more or less on par with what they were using), ''infinitely'' better ships (to the point that single Portuguese ships often wiped out entire Indian fleets due to superior speed and armament), and, perhaps most importantly, superior men, with the Portuguese soldiery being widely feared and exhibiting morale and skill that their enemies could never match. On top of that, the Portuguese had massively superior artillery in both range and power, and their star forts were unheard of in the region and near-impossible for their enemies to take by storm. All of this led to small Portuguese forces of a few hundred marines in a handful of ships routinely smashing entire state militaries, as happened in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_conquest_of_Goa Goa]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_conquest_of_Ormuz Ormuz]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Diu_(1538) Diu]] ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Diu_(1546) repeatedly]]), [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cochin_(1504) Cochin]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Malacca_(1511) Malacca]] ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Malacca_(1568) repeatedly]]), [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Johor_(1587) Johor]], and elsewhere. The fact that the Portuguese were able to maintain their rule for centuries, even in the face of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_League_of_the_Indies powerful enemy coalitions]], is also telling.
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* The Carthaginians' strategy to beat the Romans during the [[UsefulNotes/PunicWars Second Punic War]] effectively boiled down to (1) "We have [[CoolBoat better warships]] than the Romans" and (2) "We have [[ColonelBadass Hannibal]] on our side". It took the invention of guerrilla warfare for the Romans to actually beat the Carthaginians. Also, the Romans constantly learned from their engagements with the Carthaginian ships, such that the effectiveness of Roman warships increased dramatically from the war's beginning to the war's end. The war dragged on for absolutely ages though, which meant that by the time it was over the Romans hated Carthage so much that they wiped it off the face of the earth. Normally of course, the Romans preferred to conquer cities more or less intact.
* In the first decades of the 16th century, the Spanish conquistadors had overwhelming military advantages over the native American peoples. The Europeans belonged to a more militarily advanced civilization with better techniques, tools, firearms, artillery, steel, and domesticated animals. Horses and mules carried them, pigs fed them, and dogs fought for them. However, there weren't terribly many of them. The indigenous peoples had the advantage of established settlements, determination to remain independent, and large numerical superiority. European diseases, divide and conquer tactics, and the fact that most of the natives had never been allied in the first place contributed to the defeat of the native populations. Another factor was that the peoples of Mesoamerica did not fight total wars. They mostly limited themselves to so-called "flower wars", whose purpose was to collect prisoners to sacrifice to the gods.
* More impressively, the Portuguese conquests in Asia in the 16th century. The Portuguese were usually outnumbered ten to one or more, consisted solely of light infantry (as all the forces had to be seaborne, not the best environment for cavalry and pike blocks), and unlike the Native Americans, the Muslim states they were fighting had steel, horses, and gunpowder. The Portuguese however had superior armor (nearly all had partial plate, while only the elites in South and Southeast Asia got any metal armor, usually mail), better guns (most of their enemies had primitive gunpowder weapons, though some had arquebuses more or less on par with what they were using), ''infinitely'' better ships (to the point that single Portuguese ships often wiped out entire Indian fleets due to superior speed and armament), and, perhaps most importantly, superior men, with the Portuguese soldiery being widely feared and exhibiting morale and skill that their enemies could never match. On top of that, the Portuguese had massively superior artillery in both range and power, and their star forts were unheard of in the region and near-impossible for their enemies to take by storm. All of this led to small Portuguese forces of a few hundred marines in a handful of ships routinely smashing entire state militaries, as happened in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_conquest_of_Goa Goa]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_conquest_of_Ormuz Ormuz]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Diu_(1538) Diu]] ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Diu_(1546) repeatedly]]), [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cochin_(1504) Cochin]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Malacca_(1511) Malacca]] ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Malacca_(1568) repeatedly]]), [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Johor_(1587) Johor]], and elsewhere. The fact that the Portuguese were able to maintain their rule for centuries, even in the face of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_League_of_the_Indies powerful enemy coalitions]], is also telling.
* In the first decades of the 16th century, the Spanish conquistadors had overwhelming military advantages over the native American peoples. The Europeans belonged to a more militarily advanced civilization with better techniques, tools, firearms, artillery, steel, and domesticated animals. Horses and mules carried them, pigs fed them, and dogs fought for them. However, there weren't terribly many of them. The indigenous peoples had the advantage of established settlements, determination to remain independent, and large numerical superiority. European diseases, divide and conquer tactics, and the fact that most of the natives had never been allied in the first place contributed to the defeat of the native populations. Another factor was that the peoples of Mesoamerica did not fight total wars. They mostly limited themselves to so-called "flower wars", whose purpose was to collect prisoners to sacrifice to the gods.
* More impressively, the Portuguese conquests in Asia in the 16th century. The Portuguese were usually outnumbered ten to one or more, consisted solely of light infantry (as all the forces had to be seaborne, not the best environment for cavalry and pike blocks), and unlike the Native Americans, the Muslim states they were fighting had steel, horses, and gunpowder. The Portuguese however had superior armor (nearly all had partial plate, while only the elites in South and Southeast Asia got any metal armor, usually mail), better guns (most of their enemies had primitive gunpowder weapons, though some had arquebuses more or less on par with what they were using), ''infinitely'' better ships (to the point that single Portuguese ships often wiped out entire Indian fleets due to superior speed and armament), and, perhaps most importantly, superior men, with the Portuguese soldiery being widely feared and exhibiting morale and skill that their enemies could never match. On top of that, the Portuguese had massively superior artillery in both range and power, and their star forts were unheard of in the region and near-impossible for their enemies to take by storm. All of this led to small Portuguese forces of a few hundred marines in a handful of ships routinely smashing entire state militaries, as happened in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_conquest_of_Goa Goa]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_conquest_of_Ormuz Ormuz]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Diu_(1538) Diu]] ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Diu_(1546) repeatedly]]), [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cochin_(1504) Cochin]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Malacca_(1511) Malacca]] ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Malacca_(1568) repeatedly]]), [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Johor_(1587) Johor]], and elsewhere. The fact that the Portuguese were able to maintain their rule for centuries, even in the face of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_League_of_the_Indies powerful enemy coalitions]], is also telling.
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** The Minions of [[UsefulNotes/EgyptianMythology Set]] are invulnerable to any weapon not granted holy power, and even then, they self-regenerate too quickly for Jack's holy sword to do much to them. The three of them are also very fast, relentless, and strong. They are one of the few villains that Jack is completely powerless against and, like with Exdor's robots, require help from a god, though this time around, Jack knows it and spends much of the battle (though it's more like a pursuit, as Jack soon learns he's no match for the Minions) searching for a way to summon Ra and banish the Minions.
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** The Minions of [[UsefulNotes/EgyptianMythology [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Set]] are invulnerable to any weapon not granted holy power, and even then, they self-regenerate too quickly for Jack's holy sword to do much to them. The three of them are also very fast, relentless, and strong. They are one of the few villains that Jack is completely powerless against and, like with Exdor's robots, require help from a god, though this time around, Jack knows it and spends much of the battle (though it's more like a pursuit, as Jack soon learns he's no match for the Minions) searching for a way to summon Ra and banish the Minions.
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This is usually a BadassArmy, but it specifically refers to when the army is smaller than most other armies but still capable of fighting on equal terms.
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This is usually a BadassArmy, but it specifically refers to when the army is smaller than most other armies but [[ElitesAreMoreGlamorous still capable of fighting on equal terms.
terms]].
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** The Dwarfs also qualify. It helps that every single Dwarf is a capable fighter, from the lowliest coal miner or goat's cheese merchant to the High King himself. It also helps that their weapons technology is borderline Napoleonic (in a medieval setting) and some of the most advanced in the setting bar the [[YouDirtyRat Skaven]] - Dwarf armies feature disciplined infantry clad in inches-thick gromril armour, powerful siege guns, and steam-powered airships. Because the Dwarf empire was fatally fractured long ago and their [[RevengeBeforeReason insane honour system]] relegates them to a DyingRace, you pay a premium for all your nice Dwarfen units.
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->'''Sangheili navigator''': Brute ships! Staggered line! Shipmaster, they outnumber us three to one!
->'''Rtas 'Vadum''': Then it is an ''even fight.''
->'''Rtas 'Vadum''': Then it is an ''even fight.''
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->'''Sangheili navigator''': navigator:''' Brute ships! Staggered line! Shipmaster, they outnumber us three to one!
->'''Rtas 'Vadum''':one!\\
'''Rtas 'Vadum:''' Then it is an ''even fight.''
->'''Rtas 'Vadum''':
'''Rtas 'Vadum:''' Then it is an ''even fight.''
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Changed line(s) 92,100 (click to see context) from:
* It takes just a few hundred [[SpaceMarine Space Marines]] to conquer an entire planet in the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' galaxy.
** And amongst Space Marines which follow the [[BigBookOfWar Codex Astartes]], the First Company (Veterans) and Honor Guard are considered elite compared to them.
** The Grey Knights are considered to be the elite of the space marines, with their previous codex lampshading how hard it is to actually play them without using the allies rule due to being constantly outnumbered.
** Talons of the Emperor pushes it even further. A Custodian is to an entire company of Space Marines what a company of Space Marines is to a single lobotomized baseline human.
** The [[OurElvesAreDifferent Eldar and Dark Eldar]] as well. Relatively few models, and not particularly tough either, but highly mobile and generally decent at both shooting and close combat. Eldar troops are very specialised towards fighting certain opponents [[note]](for example, [[ActionGirl Howling Banshees]] will mop the floor with squads like the above mentioned Space Marines, but are less effective against things like [[ZergRush Tyranid Gaunts, Ork Boyz or Imperial Guardsmen]], [[ItsRainingMen Swooping Hawks]] are the opposite; their fire pings harmlessly off Space Marines, but Boyz and Guardsmen get mowed down, [[KillItWithFire Fire Dragons]] are strong against vehicles but get butchered by everything else)[[/note]] while the Dark Eldar eschew what little armour their good cousins take into battle in favour of [[FragileSpeedster even more speed]] and [[GlassCannon even more firepower]]. In-story, this is because the Eldar are a HigherTechSpecies yet also a borderline DyingRace, TheRemnant of a long-fallen empire - so they have both the ability and the incentive to make every troop count.
** The [[RobotWar Necrons]] are similar yet opposite to the Eldar. Expensive troops, but absolutely devastating shooting - they have better weapons than Space Marines and they're much better shots with them - and unlike the flimsy elves, these literal killing machines are as tough as nails with above average Toughness and a decent save, not to mention all of them have a 33% chance to get back up when "killed". Their slow movement, below average Initiative and limited number of Attacks make most of them poorly suited to close combat, however. To further compound their eliteness, they had a special rule in older editions that meant the Necron player was defeated if his army was reduced to 25% of it's original points value - Necrons are deadly, but you ''need to keep them alive''.
** Subverted in the pre-Heresy days: the Iron Warriors' (deserved) reputation for being the best at siege warfare ended up with their being expected to do well even when outnumbered, in one case a 10-man squad was assigned to garrison an entire planet. This didn't make them proud; it pissed them off, because these deployments were inevitably long, tedious and thankless.
* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', the [[LawfulEvil Devils]] are this to the [[ChaoticEvil Demons]]. They field much smaller number in the [[HellIsWar Blood War]], but the soldiers are well-regimented and trained, and able to fight the practically infinite number of Demons to a stalemate.
* The Clans from ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' number less than the Great Houses of the Inner Sphere, but thanks to having a culture completely devoted to military prowess, they nearly ended up conquering the entire Inner Sphere.
** And amongst Space Marines which follow the [[BigBookOfWar Codex Astartes]], the First Company (Veterans) and Honor Guard are considered elite compared to them.
** The Grey Knights are considered to be the elite of the space marines, with their previous codex lampshading how hard it is to actually play them without using the allies rule due to being constantly outnumbered.
** Talons of the Emperor pushes it even further. A Custodian is to an entire company of Space Marines what a company of Space Marines is to a single lobotomized baseline human.
** The [[OurElvesAreDifferent Eldar and Dark Eldar]] as well. Relatively few models, and not particularly tough either, but highly mobile and generally decent at both shooting and close combat. Eldar troops are very specialised towards fighting certain opponents [[note]](for example, [[ActionGirl Howling Banshees]] will mop the floor with squads like the above mentioned Space Marines, but are less effective against things like [[ZergRush Tyranid Gaunts, Ork Boyz or Imperial Guardsmen]], [[ItsRainingMen Swooping Hawks]] are the opposite; their fire pings harmlessly off Space Marines, but Boyz and Guardsmen get mowed down, [[KillItWithFire Fire Dragons]] are strong against vehicles but get butchered by everything else)[[/note]] while the Dark Eldar eschew what little armour their good cousins take into battle in favour of [[FragileSpeedster even more speed]] and [[GlassCannon even more firepower]]. In-story, this is because the Eldar are a HigherTechSpecies yet also a borderline DyingRace, TheRemnant of a long-fallen empire - so they have both the ability and the incentive to make every troop count.
** The [[RobotWar Necrons]] are similar yet opposite to the Eldar. Expensive troops, but absolutely devastating shooting - they have better weapons than Space Marines and they're much better shots with them - and unlike the flimsy elves, these literal killing machines are as tough as nails with above average Toughness and a decent save, not to mention all of them have a 33% chance to get back up when "killed". Their slow movement, below average Initiative and limited number of Attacks make most of them poorly suited to close combat, however. To further compound their eliteness, they had a special rule in older editions that meant the Necron player was defeated if his army was reduced to 25% of it's original points value - Necrons are deadly, but you ''need to keep them alive''.
** Subverted in the pre-Heresy days: the Iron Warriors' (deserved) reputation for being the best at siege warfare ended up with their being expected to do well even when outnumbered, in one case a 10-man squad was assigned to garrison an entire planet. This didn't make them proud; it pissed them off, because these deployments were inevitably long, tedious and thankless.
* In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', the [[LawfulEvil Devils]] are this to the [[ChaoticEvil Demons]]. They field much smaller number in the [[HellIsWar Blood War]], but the soldiers are well-regimented and trained, and able to fight the practically infinite number of Demons to a stalemate.
* The Clans from ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' number less than the Great Houses of the Inner Sphere, but thanks to having a culture completely devoted to military prowess, they nearly ended up conquering the entire Inner Sphere.
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* It takes just a few hundred [[SpaceMarine Space Marines]] to conquer an entire planet in ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'': The Clans number less than the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' galaxy.
** And amongst Space Marines which follow the [[BigBookOfWar Codex Astartes]], the First Company (Veterans) and Honor Guard are considered elite compared to them.
** The Grey Knights are considered to be the eliteGreat Houses of the space marines, with their previous codex lampshading how hard it is to actually play them without using the allies rule due to being constantly outnumbered.
** Talons of the Emperor pushes it even further. A Custodian is to an entire company of Space Marines what a company of Space Marines is to a single lobotomized baseline human.
** The [[OurElvesAreDifferent Eldar and Dark Eldar]] as well. Relatively few models, and not particularly tough either,Inner Sphere, but highly mobile and generally decent at both shooting and close combat. Eldar troops are very specialised towards fighting certain opponents [[note]](for example, [[ActionGirl Howling Banshees]] will mop the floor with squads like the above mentioned Space Marines, but are less effective against things like [[ZergRush Tyranid Gaunts, Ork Boyz or Imperial Guardsmen]], [[ItsRainingMen Swooping Hawks]] are the opposite; their fire pings harmlessly off Space Marines, but Boyz and Guardsmen get mowed down, [[KillItWithFire Fire Dragons]] are strong against vehicles but get butchered by everything else)[[/note]] while the Dark Eldar eschew what little armour their good cousins take into battle in favour of [[FragileSpeedster even more speed]] and [[GlassCannon even more firepower]]. In-story, this is because the Eldar are thanks to having a HigherTechSpecies yet also a borderline DyingRace, TheRemnant of a long-fallen empire - so culture completely devoted to military prowess, they have both the ability and the incentive to make every troop count.
** The [[RobotWar Necrons]] are similar yet opposite to the Eldar. Expensive troops, but absolutely devastating shooting - they have better weapons than Space Marines and they're much better shots with them - and unlike the flimsy elves, these literal killing machines are as tough as nails with above average Toughness and a decent save, not to mention all of them have a 33% chance to get back up when "killed". Their slow movement, below average Initiative and limited number of Attacks make most of them poorly suited to close combat, however. To further compound their eliteness, they had a special rule in older editions that meant the Necron player was defeated if his army was reduced to 25% of it's original points value - Necrons are deadly, but you ''need to keep them alive''.
** Subverted in the pre-Heresy days: the Iron Warriors' (deserved) reputation for being the best at siege warfarenearly ended up with their being expected to do well even when outnumbered, in one case a 10-man squad was assigned to garrison an conquering the entire planet. This didn't make them proud; it pissed them off, because these deployments were inevitably long, tedious and thankless.
Inner Sphere.
*In ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': The [[LawfulEvil Devils]] are this to the [[ChaoticEvil Demons]]. They field much smaller number in the [[HellIsWar Blood War]], but the soldiers are well-regimented and trained, and able to fight the practically infinite number of Demons to a stalemate.
* The Clans from ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' number less than the Great Houses of the Inner Sphere, but thanks to having a culture completely devoted to military prowess, they nearly ended up conquering the entire Inner Sphere.stalemate.
** And amongst Space Marines which follow the [[BigBookOfWar Codex Astartes]], the First Company (Veterans) and Honor Guard are considered elite compared to them.
** The Grey Knights are considered to be the elite
** Talons of the Emperor pushes it even further. A Custodian is to an entire company of Space Marines what a company of Space Marines is to a single lobotomized baseline human.
** The [[OurElvesAreDifferent Eldar and Dark Eldar]] as well. Relatively few models, and not particularly tough either,
** The [[RobotWar Necrons]] are similar yet opposite to the Eldar. Expensive troops, but absolutely devastating shooting - they have better weapons than Space Marines and they're much better shots with them - and unlike the flimsy elves, these literal killing machines are as tough as nails with above average Toughness and a decent save, not to mention all of them have a 33% chance to get back up when "killed". Their slow movement, below average Initiative and limited number of Attacks make most of them poorly suited to close combat, however. To further compound their eliteness, they had a special rule in older editions that meant the Necron player was defeated if his army was reduced to 25% of it's original points value - Necrons are deadly, but you ''need to keep them alive''.
** Subverted in the pre-Heresy days: the Iron Warriors' (deserved) reputation for being the best at siege warfare
*
* The Clans from ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'' number less than the Great Houses of the Inner Sphere, but thanks to having a culture completely devoted to military prowess, they nearly ended up conquering the entire Inner Sphere.
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* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'':
** Space Marines are the elite of the elite of the Imperium's armies -- typical portrays have it so that only a handful of them are needed to subjugate a typical planet. However, they're also very few, due to the high cost and time needed to create and train them and their extremely strict requirements for candidates. As a result, the Imperium almost never fields large groups of them -- Marines tend to be deployed judiciously in small strike teams, while mass combat and large-scale campaigns are usually handled by the immense legions of the more mundane Imperial Guard.
** The Grey Knights are considered to be the elite of the space marines, with their Codex lampshading how hard it is to actually play them without using the allies rule due to being constantly outnumbered.
** ''Talons of the Emperor'' pushes it even further. A Custodian is to an entire company of Space Marines what a company of Space Marines is to a single lobotomized baseline human -- but only ten thousand Custodians exist at any given time, which on the Imperium's galaxy-spanning wars ins't a large number at all.
** The [[SpaceElves Eldar and Dark Eldar]] as well. Relatively few models, and not particularly tough either, but highly mobile and generally decent at both shooting and close combat. Eldar troops are very specialised towards fighting certain opponents [[note]](for example, [[ActionGirl Howling Banshees]] will mop the floor with squads like the above mentioned Space Marines, but are less effective against things like [[ZergRush Tyranid Gaunts, Ork Boyz or Imperial Guardsmen]], [[ItsRainingMen Swooping Hawks]] are the opposite; their fire pings harmlessly off Space Marines, but Boyz and Guardsmen get mowed down, [[KillItWithFire Fire Dragons]] are strong against vehicles but get butchered by everything else)[[/note]] while the Dark Eldar eschew what little armour their good cousins take into battle in favour of [[FragileSpeedster even more speed]] and [[GlassCannon even more firepower]]. In-story, this is because the Eldar are a HigherTechSpecies yet also a borderline DyingRace, TheRemnant of a long-fallen empire -- so they have both the ability and the incentive to make every troop count.
** The [[RobotWar Necrons]] are similar yet opposite to the Eldar. Expensive troops, but absolutely devastating shooting -- they have better weapons than Space Marines and they're much better shots with them -- and unlike the flimsy elves, these literal killing machines are as tough as nails with above average Toughness and a decent save, not to mention all of them have a 33% chance to get back up when "killed". Their slow movement, below average Initiative and limited number of Attacks make most of them poorly suited to close combat, however. To further compound their eliteness, they had a special rule in older editions that meant the Necron player was defeated if his army was reduced to 25% of it's original points value - Necrons are deadly, but you ''need to keep them alive''.
** Subverted in the pre-Heresy days: the Iron Warriors' (deserved) reputation for being the best at siege warfare ended up with their being expected to do well even when outnumbered, in one case a 10-man squad was assigned to garrison an entire planet. This didn't make them proud; it pissed them off, because these deployments were inevitably long, tedious and thankless.
* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'': One-on-one, elven soldiers are always better than their human counterparts -- elven soldiers spend centuries practicing their trade, and are stronger and have better reflexes than and any human. A regular elven spearman or archer is better than any human veteran; an elite knight or specialist is superhuman. However, the elves are few in numbers, reproduce slowly, and take centuries to train new soldiers to their necessary skill levels. As a result, elven armies tend to consist of small, select cores of highly elite soldiers, facing hordes of less powerful but far more numerous enemies.
** Space Marines are the elite of the elite of the Imperium's armies -- typical portrays have it so that only a handful of them are needed to subjugate a typical planet. However, they're also very few, due to the high cost and time needed to create and train them and their extremely strict requirements for candidates. As a result, the Imperium almost never fields large groups of them -- Marines tend to be deployed judiciously in small strike teams, while mass combat and large-scale campaigns are usually handled by the immense legions of the more mundane Imperial Guard.
** The Grey Knights are considered to be the elite of the space marines, with their Codex lampshading how hard it is to actually play them without using the allies rule due to being constantly outnumbered.
** ''Talons of the Emperor'' pushes it even further. A Custodian is to an entire company of Space Marines what a company of Space Marines is to a single lobotomized baseline human -- but only ten thousand Custodians exist at any given time, which on the Imperium's galaxy-spanning wars ins't a large number at all.
** The [[SpaceElves Eldar and Dark Eldar]] as well. Relatively few models, and not particularly tough either, but highly mobile and generally decent at both shooting and close combat. Eldar troops are very specialised towards fighting certain opponents [[note]](for example, [[ActionGirl Howling Banshees]] will mop the floor with squads like the above mentioned Space Marines, but are less effective against things like [[ZergRush Tyranid Gaunts, Ork Boyz or Imperial Guardsmen]], [[ItsRainingMen Swooping Hawks]] are the opposite; their fire pings harmlessly off Space Marines, but Boyz and Guardsmen get mowed down, [[KillItWithFire Fire Dragons]] are strong against vehicles but get butchered by everything else)[[/note]] while the Dark Eldar eschew what little armour their good cousins take into battle in favour of [[FragileSpeedster even more speed]] and [[GlassCannon even more firepower]]. In-story, this is because the Eldar are a HigherTechSpecies yet also a borderline DyingRace, TheRemnant of a long-fallen empire -- so they have both the ability and the incentive to make every troop count.
** The [[RobotWar Necrons]] are similar yet opposite to the Eldar. Expensive troops, but absolutely devastating shooting -- they have better weapons than Space Marines and they're much better shots with them -- and unlike the flimsy elves, these literal killing machines are as tough as nails with above average Toughness and a decent save, not to mention all of them have a 33% chance to get back up when "killed". Their slow movement, below average Initiative and limited number of Attacks make most of them poorly suited to close combat, however. To further compound their eliteness, they had a special rule in older editions that meant the Necron player was defeated if his army was reduced to 25% of it's original points value - Necrons are deadly, but you ''need to keep them alive''.
** Subverted in the pre-Heresy days: the Iron Warriors' (deserved) reputation for being the best at siege warfare ended up with their being expected to do well even when outnumbered, in one case a 10-man squad was assigned to garrison an entire planet. This didn't make them proud; it pissed them off, because these deployments were inevitably long, tedious and thankless.
* ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'': One-on-one, elven soldiers are always better than their human counterparts -- elven soldiers spend centuries practicing their trade, and are stronger and have better reflexes than and any human. A regular elven spearman or archer is better than any human veteran; an elite knight or specialist is superhuman. However, the elves are few in numbers, reproduce slowly, and take centuries to train new soldiers to their necessary skill levels. As a result, elven armies tend to consist of small, select cores of highly elite soldiers, facing hordes of less powerful but far more numerous enemies.
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** Also particularly applies to the elves of Ost-in-Edhil led by Celeborn. A few hundred elves hold off a numerically superior force of orcs for three days, before Elrond arrives with reinforcements from Imladris and breaks the siege. The vast majority of the elves are then able to escape from the city, which has to be abandoned since it's location is now known, and even get to take most of their belongings with them. Celebrimbor had also sent the rings of power away to their intended bearers before Sauron's army got there, foiling his schemes to take them and distribute them himself. Sauron's only consolation prize for having his army decimated is the death of Celebrimbor. To put the icing on the cake, Sauron is unable to learn the location of Imladris: thanks to Elrond being friendly with the dwarves of Khazad-dûm. It's one of the few decisive elvish victories.
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** Also particularly applies to the elves of Ost-in-Edhil led by Celeborn. A few hundred elves hold off a numerically superior force of orcs for three days, before Elrond arrives with reinforcements from Imladris and breaks the siege. The vast majority of the elves are then able to escape from the city, which has to be abandoned since it's its location is now known, and even get to take most of their belongings with them. Celebrimbor had also sent the rings of power away to their intended bearers before Sauron's army got there, foiling his schemes to take them and distribute them himself. Sauron's only consolation prize for having his army decimated is the death of Celebrimbor. To put the icing on the cake, Sauron is unable to learn the location of Imladris: thanks to Elrond being friendly with the dwarves of Khazad-dûm. It's one of the few decisive elvish victories.
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* ''VideoGame/EuropaUniversalis II'' and ''III'' has the Quantity/Quality slider, which influences where on the scale from this trope to ZergRush a country's army are (though obviously factors like technology and commanding officer quality matters as well) -- once you move from the centre towards the quality end, you start to get less manpower, slower reinforcement and slower and costlier army construction, but (with variance between the two games) increased morale and organization, resulting in a smaller military that can't take losses well but also takes less losses (quantity, of course, is the exact opposite). The Land/Naval slider has a different cost -- moving towards one side or the other gives a more powerful ''and'' larger army or navy, respectively, but at the cost of making the other costlier without becoming more powerful.
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* ''VideoGame/EuropaUniversalis II'' and ''III'' has the Quantity/Quality slider, which influences where on the scale from this trope to ZergRush a country's army are (though obviously factors like technology and commanding officer quality matters as well) -- once you move from the centre towards the quality end, you start to get less manpower, slower reinforcement and slower and costlier army construction, but (with variance between the two games) increased morale and organization, resulting in a smaller military that can't take recovers slowly from losses well but also takes less losses (quantity, of course, is the exact opposite). The Land/Naval slider has a different cost -- moving towards one side or the other gives a more powerful ''and'' larger army or navy, respectively, but at the cost of making the other costlier without becoming more powerful.
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-->-- ''VideoGame/Halo3'', the Battle of Installation 00, [[spoiler:where the Sangheili smashed the Brutes, by the way]]
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-->-- ''VideoGame/Halo3'', the Battle of Installation 00, [[spoiler:where the Sangheili smashed the Brutes, by the way]]
''VideoGame/Halo3''
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* It's possible to build one (or 10, if you have the economy to support them) yourself in ''VideoGame/TotalWarRomeII''. Recruit some cohorts of praetorian guards, give them the best equipment, a high ranking general, some other upgrades and train them to veterancy and... Voila! You've got yourself an elite legion capable of achieving kill-ratio's of 500:1.
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* It's possible to build one (or 10, if you have the economy to support them) yourself in ''VideoGame/TotalWarRomeII''. Recruit some cohorts of praetorian guards, give them the best equipment, a high ranking general, some other upgrades and train them to veterancy and... Voila! You've got yourself an elite legion capable of achieving kill-ratio's kill-ratios of 500:1.
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* ''Noblemen: 1896'' from Foursaken Media, has your Nobleman's army have armies within it (it's the game's terminology for a specialist company). These include the Marauders (x3 health, x2 melee damage), the 101 Armored Division and the Hammer Vanguard (x3 health). The limiting factor is that these armies cost twice as much supplies as an advanced army (which in turn is significantly more expensive than a basic army) and they have unit restrictions - the Marauders can only take infantry that specialize in melee, the 101 Armored Division only has vehicle and armored infantry, and the Hammer Vanguard have only vehicles and artillery.
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* ''Noblemen: 1896'' from Foursaken Media, has your Nobleman's army have armies within it (it's the game's terminology for a specialist company). These include the Marauders (x3 health, x2 melee damage), the 101 Armored Division and (x3 health), the Hammer Vanguard (x3 health).health) and more. The limiting factor is that these armies cost twice as much supplies as an advanced army (which in turn is significantly more expensive than a basic army) and they have unit restrictions - the Marauders can only take infantry that specialize in melee, the 101 Armored Division only has vehicle and armored infantry, and the Hammer Vanguard have only vehicles and artillery.
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* ''Noblemen: 1896'' from Foursaken Media, has your Nobleman's army have armies within it (it's the game's terminology for a specialist company). These include the Marauders (x3 health, x2 melee damage), the 101 Armored Division and the Hammer Vanguard (x3 health). The limiting factor is that these armies cost twice as much supplies as an advanced army (which in turn is significantly more expensive than a basic army) and they have unit restrictions - the Marauders can only take infantry that specialize in melee, the 101 Armored Division only has vehicle and armored infantry, and the Hammer Vanguard have only vehicles and artillery.
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** Talons of the Emperor pushes it even further. A Custodian is similar to a Space Marine Terminator, only bigger, tougher, and ''rarer''. They're backed by small units of Sisters of Silence, who are a nimble, elite AmazonBrigade who naturally possess powerful AntiMagic.
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** Talons of the Emperor pushes it even further. A Custodian is similar to a an entire company of Space Marine Terminator, only bigger, tougher, and ''rarer''. They're backed by small units Marines what a company of Sisters of Silence, who are Space Marines is to a nimble, elite AmazonBrigade who naturally possess powerful AntiMagic.single lobotomized baseline human.
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* In ''Film/TheLastSamurai'', the {{Samurai}} followers of Katsumoto completely crush an Imperial army of musket-toting conscripts with a cavalry charge. Later on they face the Imperial army again - they have [[TookALevelInBadass taken a level in badass]] since, have the warriors outnumbered six-to-one ''and'' have artillery. The samurai still kick lots of ass and kill two-thirds of the Imperial army before they are finally brought low by overwhelming MoreDakka.
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shoehorned, not really an example
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* The Battle of Thermopylae, although the [[ComicBook/ThreeHundred graphic novel and film]] exaggerates this. In reality, it was less a case of the Greek soldiers being elite (although they certainly had elite units: but so did the Persians) and more a case of them cleverly using the terrain to their advantage. They positioned themselves in a relatively narrow mountain pass. The Persians had brought a million troops, but were only able to deploy a few hundred at a time. Also, apparently Xerxes had missed the memo about cavalry and spears: because he sent the elite Macedonian cavalry against the spear-wielding Spartans. They all died. Not only was that a waste of a very valuable veteran unit, but it's what ultimately led to Alexander's conquest of Persia half a century later. In any case, the Persians eventually won the battle of course: because a local goatherd told them about a road over the mountains.
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* In the first decades of the 16th century, the Spanish conquistadors had overwhelming military advantages over the native American peoples. The Europeans belonged to a more militarily advanced civilization with better techniques, tools, firearms, artillery, steel, and domesticated animals. Horses and mules carried them, pigs fed them, and dogs fought for them. However, there weren't terribly many of them. The indigenous peoples had the advantage of established settlements, determination to remain independent, and large numerical superiority. European diseases, divide and conquer tactics, and the fact that most of the natives had never been allied in the first place contributed to the defeat of the native populations.
** Another factor was that the peoples of Mesoamerica did not fight total wars. They mostly limited themselves to so-called "flower wars", whose purpose was to collect prisoners to sacrifice to the gods.
** Another factor was that the peoples of Mesoamerica did not fight total wars. They mostly limited themselves to so-called "flower wars", whose purpose was to collect prisoners to sacrifice to the gods.
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* In the first decades of the 16th century, the Spanish conquistadors had overwhelming military advantages over the native American peoples. The Europeans belonged to a more militarily advanced civilization with better techniques, tools, firearms, artillery, steel, and domesticated animals. Horses and mules carried them, pigs fed them, and dogs fought for them. However, there weren't terribly many of them. The indigenous peoples had the advantage of established settlements, determination to remain independent, and large numerical superiority. European diseases, divide and conquer tactics, and the fact that most of the natives had never been allied in the first place contributed to the defeat of the native populations.
**populations. Another factor was that the peoples of Mesoamerica did not fight total wars. They mostly limited themselves to so-called "flower wars", whose purpose was to collect prisoners to sacrifice to the gods.
* More impressively, the Portuguese conquests in Asia in the 16th century. The Portuguese were usually outnumbered ten to one or more, consisted solely of light infantry (as all the forces had to be seaborne, not the best environment for cavalry and pike blocks), and unlike the Native Americans, the Muslim states they were fighting had steel, horses, and gunpowder. The Portuguese however had superior armor (nearly all had partial plate, while only the elites in South and Southeast Asia got any metal armor, usually mail), better guns (most of their enemies had primitive gunpowder weapons, though some had arquebuses more or less on par with what they were using), ''infinitely'' better ships (to the point that single Portuguese ships often wiped out entire Indian fleets due to superior speed and armament), and, perhaps most importantly, superior men, with the Portuguese soldiery being widely feared and exhibiting morale and skill that their enemies could never match. On top of that, the Portuguese had massively superior artillery in both range and power, and their star forts were unheard of in the region and near-impossible for their enemies to take by storm. All of this led to small Portuguese forces of a few hundred marines in a handful of ships routinely smashing entire state militaries, as happened in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_conquest_of_Goa Goa]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_conquest_of_Ormuz Ormuz]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Diu_(1538) Diu]] ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Diu_(1546) repeatedly]]), [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cochin_(1504) Cochin]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Malacca_(1511) Malacca]] ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Malacca_(1568) repeatedly]]), [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Johor_(1587) Johor]], and elsewhere. The fact that the Portuguese were able to maintain their rule for centuries, even in the face of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_League_of_the_Indies powerful enemy coalitions]], is also telling.
**
* More impressively, the Portuguese conquests in Asia in the 16th century. The Portuguese were usually outnumbered ten to one or more, consisted solely of light infantry (as all the forces had to be seaborne, not the best environment for cavalry and pike blocks), and unlike the Native Americans, the Muslim states they were fighting had steel, horses, and gunpowder. The Portuguese however had superior armor (nearly all had partial plate, while only the elites in South and Southeast Asia got any metal armor, usually mail), better guns (most of their enemies had primitive gunpowder weapons, though some had arquebuses more or less on par with what they were using), ''infinitely'' better ships (to the point that single Portuguese ships often wiped out entire Indian fleets due to superior speed and armament), and, perhaps most importantly, superior men, with the Portuguese soldiery being widely feared and exhibiting morale and skill that their enemies could never match. On top of that, the Portuguese had massively superior artillery in both range and power, and their star forts were unheard of in the region and near-impossible for their enemies to take by storm. All of this led to small Portuguese forces of a few hundred marines in a handful of ships routinely smashing entire state militaries, as happened in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_conquest_of_Goa Goa]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portuguese_conquest_of_Ormuz Ormuz]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Diu_(1538) Diu]] ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Diu_(1546) repeatedly]]), [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Cochin_(1504) Cochin]], [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capture_of_Malacca_(1511) Malacca]] ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Malacca_(1568) repeatedly]]), [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Johor_(1587) Johor]], and elsewhere. The fact that the Portuguese were able to maintain their rule for centuries, even in the face of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_League_of_the_Indies powerful enemy coalitions]], is also telling.
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a novel is fiction
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* During the Battle of Mogadishu, later depicted in the novel and film ''Film/BlackHawkDown'', a small group of 120 US Rangers and Delta Force operators supported by some Malaysian and Pakistani armored vehicles fended off somewhere from two to four thousand Somali militiamen. At the end of the battle, the Somalis had lost at least 133 militiamen killed[[note]]133 is what the Somali National Alliance admitted to; presumably that's an accurate figure of their losses, but it'd only account for their members, not unconnected militiamen in the city who just picked up a gun and fired at the nearest American. Estimates on the total range from 200 to 700, though the lower figures are more likely.[[/note]] at the cost of 19 dead + two helicopters shot down on the American side.
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* During the Battle of Mogadishu, later depicted in the novel book and film ''Film/BlackHawkDown'', a small group of 120 US Rangers and Delta Force operators supported by some Malaysian and Pakistani armored vehicles fended off somewhere from two to four thousand Somali militiamen. At the end of the battle, the Somalis had lost at least 133 militiamen killed[[note]]133 is what the Somali National Alliance admitted to; presumably that's an accurate figure of their losses, but it'd only account for their members, not unconnected militiamen in the city who just picked up a gun and fired at the nearest American. Estimates on the total range from 200 to 700, though the lower figures are more likely.[[/note]] at the cost of 19 dead + two helicopters shot down on the American side.
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* In Japanese history, the {{Samurai}} class emerged out of the Genpei War of 1180. As they were a military nobility and the only professional soldiers in Japan at the time, they were regarded as {{One Man Arm|y}}ies compared to the levies commonly used.
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*** Deconstructed however in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', when the NCR got fed up with the Mojave chapter (who were at the time behaving like very heavily-armed bandits confiscating technology from NCR citizens and trade caravans at gunpoint) and the two sides went to war: although the Brotherhood's superior technology and training won them a few decisive victories early on, the NCR's huge economy and manpower pool allowed them to replace their decimated conscript armies time and time again, while the Brotherhood gradually dwindled down to nothing and grew more and more desperate. Eventually the Brotherhood was crippled after a disastrous defeat at HELIOS One; half the chapter was slaughtered holding the line against the NCR while the Elder ventured inside seeking a rumoured pre-War KillSat superweapon inside, [[AllForNothing that he eventually found he could not use as the laser designator was lost]]. Ironically the Brotherhood's greatest victory against the NCR in the whole war was sending a crack force to destroy their gold reserves, sending their economy into meltdown; [[RealityEnsues the lesson here is wars are won and lost by manpower and economic concerns rather than tactical victories and K/D ratios.]]
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*** Deconstructed however in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', when the NCR got fed up with the Mojave chapter (who were at the time behaving like very heavily-armed bandits confiscating technology from NCR citizens and trade caravans at gunpoint) and the two sides went to war: although the Brotherhood's superior technology and training won them a few decisive victories early on, the NCR's huge economy and manpower pool allowed them to replace their decimated conscript armies time and time again, while the Brotherhood gradually dwindled down to nothing and grew more and more desperate. Eventually the Brotherhood was crippled after a disastrous defeat at HELIOS One; half the chapter was slaughtered holding the line against the NCR while the Elder ventured inside seeking a rumoured pre-War KillSat superweapon inside, [[AllForNothing that he eventually found he could not use as the laser designator was lost]]. Ironically the Brotherhood's greatest victory against the NCR in the whole war was sending a crack force to destroy their gold reserves, sending their economy into meltdown; [[RealityEnsues [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome the lesson here is wars are won and lost by manpower and economic concerns rather than tactical victories and K/D ratios.]]
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* ''{{Film/Black Hawk Down}}'': Contrasts the casualties during the movie where 18 American soldiers are dead while 1000-2000 Somalis died.
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* ''{{Film/Black Hawk Down}}'': Contrasts the casualties during the movie where 18 American soldiers are dead while and 1000-2000 Somalis died.
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* ''{{Film/Black Hawk Down}}'', Contrasts the casualties during the movie where 18 American soldiers are dead while 1000-2000 Somalis died.
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* ''{{Film/Black Hawk Down}}'', Down}}'': Contrasts the casualties during the movie where 18 American soldiers are dead while 1000-2000 Somalis died.
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Changed line(s) 61 (click to see context) from:
* ''Film/Black Hawk Down'', Contrasts the casualties during the movie where 18 American soldiers are dead while 1000-2000 Somalis died.
to:
* ''Film/Black ''{{Film/Black Hawk Down'', Down}}'', Contrasts the casualties during the movie where 18 American soldiers are dead while 1000-2000 Somalis died.
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Changed line(s) 61,62 (click to see context) from:
* ''Film/Black Hawk Down'', Contrasts the casualties during the movie where 18 American soldiers
are dead while 1000-2000 Somalis died.
are dead while 1000-2000 Somalis died.
to:
* ''Film/Black Hawk Down'', Contrasts the casualties during the movie where 18 American soldiers
soldiers are dead while 1000-2000 Somalis died.
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Deleted line(s) 61 (click to see context) :
[[/folder]]
Added DiffLines:
[[/folder]]
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Changed line(s) 62 (click to see context) from:
to:
* ''Film/Black Hawk Down'', Contrasts the casualties during the movie where 18 American soldiers
are dead while 1000-2000 Somalis died.
are dead while 1000-2000 Somalis died.
