History Main / OpposingCombatPhilosophies

* ''Fanfic/IWokeUpADungeonNowWhat'': The Khannite army is built around mostly-autonomous five-man squads, each of which provides their own equipment and tactics, with small groups of more discipline elites for strategic maneuvers and the use of slaves as blade-fodder. The Velthians, by contrast, favor larger, more disciplined regiments with consistent equipment.

** Within the Imperium, the Imperial Guard are the "Emperor's Hammer," and generally speaking [[WeHaveReserves throw men at a problem]] until it ceases to be a problem. The Space Marine chapters are by comparison a scalpel, a highly-mobile EliteArmy that removes priority targets to secure strategic victories, and will often leave conventional Imperial forces to mop up what remains. The Officio Assassinorum are then a blackened knife, using subterfuge and whatever tactics are necessary to land a killing blow against a single target.

** In the Legends canon, the Echani and the Mandalorians had a rivalry based on this. While they both were {{ProudWarriorRace}}s, the Echani saw combat as an art form and method of communication. They favored minimal armor if needed (preferring to fight [[FullFrontalAssault without much clothing]] in more personal duels) and light flexible weapons or unarmed combat. Mandalorians? They saw themselves as more pragmatic. If you're going to fight, wear heavy armor that conceals ''everything'', bring a BFG, and use MoreDakka - to hell with subtlety and the only "communication" you plan on doing is "Mine's bigger." This even extends to the Jedi and Sith rivalry. At least two Echani became Jedi Masters while the Sith exploit the Mandalorians' brutality and need for a challenge to hire them as mooks.

* Similar to many fantasy works, the evil Marmo hordes of ''Roleplay/RecordOfLodossWar'' are focused entirely on offense, with most goblins and werewolves going into battle with nothing but a dagger, scythe, or similar villian weapon. On the other hand, the Holy Knights of Valis routinely carry shields into battle, and Parn's party alone has 3 people capable of healing: Deedlit the High Elf, Slayn the Wizard, and Etoh the Cleric.

** The same episode highlights the difference between the Jaffa/Goa'uld and humans via their weapons: the Jaffa staff is a weapon of terror (powerful and flashy, but slow-firing and inaccurate) designed to intimidate the enemy, while the human P90 is a weapon of war (less visually impressive, but much faster and more accurate) designed to ''kill'' the enemy. This is demonstrated in a competition with the Jaffa's "best marksman" scoring 2 out of 3 hits on a target log, causing large scorch marks - followed by Carter opening up [[MoreDakka full-auto]] on the same log, '' ripping it in half''.

** The same episode highlights the difference between the Jaffa/Goa'uld and humans via their weapons: the Jaffa staff is a weapon of terror (powerful and flashy, but slow-firing and inaccurate) designed to intimidate the enemy, while the human P90 is a weapon of war (less visually impressive, but much faster and more accurate) designed to ''kill'' the enemy.

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'': Akira really hates the idea of fighting in melee, preferring guns, which gets him into arguments with the NinjaMaid sisters Shiori and Kanae who prefer melee. After Akira has an InLoveWithYourCarnage moment watching someone else cut down monsters with their swords whom he could barely stagger with his guns, Akira ends up harping on Kanae for using GoodOldFisticuffs (via PowerFist) while getting excited watching Shiori's swordfighting, which prompts Kanae to complain about FriendshipFavoritism. Soon after, Akira takes up SwordAndGun.

* Boxers can be ''very'' broadly divided into 3 types: out-fighters, swarmers, and brawlers. Out-fighters are long range punchers who use distancing and strategy to control the fight. Swarmers are short range fighters who prefer to get into point-blank range and [[RapidFireFisticuffs unload with torrents of body blows and uppercuts]]. Finally, brawlers are power punchers who rely on sheer physical strength to devastate their opponents, [[MightyGlacier often at the expense of speed and skill]]. Historical heavyweight examples are Muhammad Ali, Joe Frazier and George Foreman, respectively.

** In ''VideoGame/StarcraftII: VideoGame/WingsOfLiberty'', you get to choose between several mutually-exclusive upgrades that are set for the rest of the campaign. Problem is that in most cases one upgrade blows the other out of the water (Science Vessel vs Raven, Orbital Command vs Planetary Fortress, bunker that can fight back vs bunker with extra life...). Basically, if the Terrans have it in ''Heart of the Swarm'', [[GameBreaker it's the one you should have taken]] in ''Wings of Liberty.''
** In ''VideoGame/HeartOfTheSwarm'', zerg evolutions can be divided into those that focus on brute force (ultralisks that do continuous area damage, tougher jumping zerglings, roaches that SpawnBroodlings, banelings that make little banelings on death, mutalisks that turn into flying artillery) and those with a more subtle but equally powerful approach (resurrecting ulralisks, instaspawning triple zerglings, roaches that slow the enemy, [[GameBreaker jumping banelings]], mutalisks that turn into flying casters that can prevent enemies from attacking/)

** In the ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSeries'', GDI favors increasingly-expensive and powerful land units that can easily win a one-on-one fight with anything else on the tech tier, backed by strong air power. The Brotherhood of Nod in contrast runs with cheap, light and fast basic units, supplemented by a handful of extremely high-tech elite units with special abilities like stealth or indirect fire to bolster the CannonFodder. The Scrin are somewhere in between on land, with a well-rounded unit roster and a [[YouRequireMoreVespeneGas superior economy]], but their air units are also flat-out superior to anything GDI or Nod can build, befitting a faction of invading aliens.

** In the ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianSeries'', GDI favors increasingly-expensive and powerful land units that can easily win a one-on-one fight with anything else on the tech tier, backed by strong air power. The Brotherhood of Nod in contrast runs with cheap, light and fast basic units, supplemented by a handful of extremely high-tech elite units with special abilities like stealth or indirect fire to bolster the CannonFodder.

* In ''Literature/BelisariusSeries'', each political power has its own combat philosophy. The Persians are armored horsemen supported by horse archers meant for wide plains. The Romans have this too but they rely more on technology. The Axumites emphasize naval boarding parties and so have little room for tactics and stress close-combat ferocity. The Rajputs are a little like the Persians but spend more time in broken terrain. They are great cavalrymen and swordsmen and definitely BornInTheSaddle. The Marathas stress HitAndRun tactics. The Kushans tend to be a JackOfAllTrades, though they seem to spend more time on foot then on horseback. The Malwa tactics are primitive and based more on the need to keep their people under their thumb than to fight their enemies; they rely chiefly on [[WeHaveReserves reserves]] and [[MoreDakka dakka]]; when they need actual military prowess it is usually the Rajputs and the Kushans that provide it.