Line #19 CurbStompBattle/TabletopGames


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9	* As per other games above, pretty much guaranteed in ''TabletopGame/AnimaBeyondFantasy'' if low-level characters fight high-level ones. To give some scale, here someone of around level 3 is considered, to give a comparison, the equivalent of an elite soldier (think of ''Franchise/{{Rambo}}'') and those of around level 6 equivalent to people who in RealLife are just a-few-in-all-history. Level 8 characters and higher are said to be able to [[OneManArmy single-handedly destroy an enemy army]], and it just continues going up from there... until someone finds that the game's most powerful entities (Beryls, the Shajads, C'iel, and Gaira) could kill the highest-level character someone could think of with just the equivalent of winking an eye.
10	* For the first six months of [[TabletopGame/BattleTech Operation [=REVIVAL=]]], The Clans were continually on the giving end of these from a strategic standpoint due to the shock tactics, superior technology and unexpected weaponry (such as [[SuperSoldiers Eleme]][[PoweredArmor ntals]]). It wasn't until the Draconis Combine duped the Smoke Jaguars by creating an on-paper green force out of a couple of their elite units and taking advantage of the Clans' focus on HonorBeforeReason that the Inner Sphere started to realize how to beat the Clans, though it wasn't until [[HeroicSacrifice a Rasalhagian pilot crashed her fighter]] [[RammingAlwaysWorks into the bridge of the capital ship]] killing the Clans' leader that they had the breathing room to stop being on the receiving end of the Curb.
11	** This would lead to [=ComStar=] returning the favor on the battle of Tukkayid. The [=ComGuard=] challenged two task forces each from the seven invading Clans. The Wolves managed to take both objectives, the Ghost Bears took one. The other five Clans proceeded to get ground into the dirt due to them undervaluing logistics and expecting the typical short Clan trials. The Guards dragged the battle out over a month, stretching the Clans' ammunition and parts store to the breaking point.
12	** An amusing example of this was the defense of the Draconis Combine world of Sheliak. Without any military forces, the commissioner of the planetary (American-style) football league decided to confront the invading Ghost Bear forces with an all-star team of players, challenging the invaders to a game the Sheliak All-Stars hoped they didn’t know. Unfortunately, football is very popular among the Ghost Bears, and the Bears brought the [[SuperSoldier 78th Elemental Support Binary]] to play. The planet was handed over during the post-game show after an 84-3 annihilation of the home team. It was, however, one of the cleanest games in the Sheliak Professional Football League’s history.
13	** During the Amaris Civil War, battles were long, drawn-out affairs that tending to grind each side to dust. But during the Amaris Coup, the legendary Black Watch, [[{{Understatement}} somewhat upset about Amaris killing the First Lord]] they were [[PraetorianGuard sworn to protect]], decided to kill the shit out of the usurper, Stefan Amaris. Amaris has anticipated that, and nuked the hell out of the Black Watch base on Terra, leaving only eight Battlemechs standing (along with the palace guard, who were trying to kill Amaris and needed Battletech support to do it). Amaris sent an entire regiment, the 4th Amaris Dragoons, to destroy the remnants of the Black Watch; that is, some 120 Battlemechs to kill 8. The Black Watch savaged the Dragoons so badly that the Dragoons were forced to retreat and drop nukes on the Black Watch to kill them.
14	** Also during the Amaris Civil War, General Alexandr Kerensky, leader of the massive Star League Defense Force, decided that he couldn’t go directly to Terra to fight Amaris, and instead decided to attack Amaris’s empire, the Rim Worlds Republic, which had the largest military force other than Star League (they had, after all, basically just conquered Star League through military force). From the moment the SLDF jumped into Rim Worlds space, to the end of those hostilities three years later, there was zero doubt about who would win: despite the SLDF having literally no reserve forces or logistics, their battle experience, superior technology, and unmatched military planning and leadership meant that the Rim Worlds Republic forces could, at best, grind down the SLDF, and they didn’t even do that well, with the SLDF replacing losses from supplies captured from enemy outposts and bases.
15	* High-level characters in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' can typically be counted on to wipe the floor with low-level characters in a straight-up fight. This is especially true if spellcasters are involved, as many high-level spellcasters have spells that can instakill characters below a certain HD level with no saving throw.
16	* In ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'', this is almost guaranteed to happen any time a Celestial Exalt goes in against mortals, or even Terrestrial Exalted. It's even possible to curb stomp ''gods'' if you have the right build.
17	** 'The right build', of course, meaning 'being anything stronger than a regular heroic mortal'. And even then, a heroic mortal with an artifact that allows him to hit dematerialised spirits...
18	*** Depends on the god. Lesser river god? Fuck, yeah. One of the higher-ups, i.e. The God of Southern War and Cattle, or the Celestial Incarnae? Not so much.
19	* In the backstory of the game ''TabletopGame/FadingSuns'', the meeting between the Vau and the Second Republic (nearly at the highest point of its power and technological advancement) is the conquest of a (unknown to the humans) Vau protectorate. A few days later, a Vau ship appears, destroy every trace of human presence in a matter of minutes, and leaves a message not to fuck with this star system. Of course, humans being what they are, assemble a combat fleet to attack the planet the Vau vessel came from. The only ship to come back had been spared to serve as a warning to the Second Republic.
20	* During the Time of Troubles of the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'', the gods were depowered as punishment for some of them having stolen the Tablets of Fate (and the guilty refused to admit it). The only exception was Helm, god of watchfulness, who was left to guard the gates to the Astral Plane (he's such a rules stickler that there's no way he'd ever steal anything). Mystra, goddess of Magic (usually the most powerful of the gods) wanted to plead her case with Ao, but Helm wouldn't let her in, so she attacked him out of frustration. Let's set the scene. Mystra in her mortal form was more powerful than a lv. 20 character, but she was still mortal. Helm was a god. The clash can't even be called a battle.
21	* In Duzakh, a setting within [[TabletopGame/InfiniteWorlds GURPS Infinite Worlds]], the [[UsefulNotes/GrecoPersianWars Battle of Thermopylae]] became a curb-stomp in favor of the Spartans because they were NighInvulnerable vampires rather than mere [[BadassNormal Badass Normals]].
22	* In most Palladium-made games - like Rifts - there are two levels of damage, SDC and MDC, where one point of MDC is equivalent to 100 SDC. The disadvantage in scale is on par with Bambi vs Godzilla.
23	* The card Crushing Attack in ''TabletopGame/LegendOfTheFiveRings'' can only be played during a battle if you have more than double the strength of the opposing army. It immediately ends the battle, preventing any actions from your opponent that might have swayed the outcome, purely by overwhelming might.
24	* ''TabletopGame/{{Mystara}}'' has the Elfwar - a war waged against the Elves of Alfheim by over the curse of rule of not one but two kings of Darokin, a nation that surrounds Alfheim on all borders. It was a colossal humilation for Darokin, that undermined authority of the monarchy itself and kickstarted it's decline, which over the course of centuries lead to Darokin becoming a republic. The kicker? Elven history doesn't mention this war whatsoever, because the Elves didn't even realize human attacks on their forest were a part of an organized military campaign.
25	* In the backstory of ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'', it's mentioned that Sigil's mysterious ruler/protector/overlord, [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Lady of Pain]], has killed ''gods'' in her time...and the confrontations were not the usual, cataclysmic, ground shaking clash of the titans one would expect from a duel between major powers. They were much more of the "angry Lady = dead schmuck" variety. The ''only'' entity that has ever so much as slowed her down is [[OurLichesAreDifferent Vecna]], [[TimeAbyss a millennia old liche]] and [[PhysicalGod greater god]], who was in the process of reshaping the multiverse at the time. Everyone else [[BoomHeadshot just dies]].
26	** She can appear in Planescape: Torment as a non-standard game over if you cause enough trouble in her city, perma-killing the Nameless One in one shot.
27	* Any time a traditionally equipped Martian army gets into a scrap with a modern force in ''TabletopGame/RocketAge''. The Deutsche Marskorps and their war-walkers in particular are the masters of this.
28	* In ''TabletopGame/RuneQuest'', it's established that attacking the dragonewt home city and destroying their eggs -- the focus of their repeated reincarnation -- is completely off limits. The reason lies in the last time it was tried: The true dragons got very, very upset and the resulting [[NameToRunAwayFromReallyFast Dragonkill Wars]] weren't so named because of anything the ''dragons'' suffered. Ever since, it has been understood that battling individual dragonewts is allowed, but attempted genocide is a giant no-no.
29	* ''TabletopGame/TheSingularitySystem'' models vehicle-scale and personal-scale combat with the same system. Unsurprisingly, cross-scale combats are usually {{Curb Stomp Battle}}s in favor of the vehicular-scale combatants. This is not always the case, though, especially when PoweredArmor come into play.
30	* ''TabletopGame/{{Spycraft}}'', and later D&D 4th edition, had separate NPC types for "minions" or "standard" characters and "special characters". The latter have hit points like the player characters, but the former die with a single successful attack. Needless to say, a combat encounter designed primarily around standard/minion characters tends to be this until players reach the 'boss'.
31	* Pretty much any faction [[{{Splat}} Codex]] in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' can be counted on to include accounts of several such battles to demonstrate the power of that faction's army or a specific unit in it. In the latter case, the narrator will often go on about how perfectly impenetrable the enemy position is, how the army's normal troops were dying in droves, and then [[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman the specialist unit arrives]] and takes it apart effortlessly. Expects feats [[GameplayAndStorySegregation totally out of line with the unit's power on the tabletop]]. One particularly egregious demonstration is an anecdote dealing with [[AntiAir the Hydra flak tank]] vs. enemy [[ItsRainingMen drop troops]] which, evidently, ended in a ''99,999-to-1'' kill ratio.
32	** Normally what happens when a Planetary Defence Force goes up against anybody. Think the Imperial Guard, except they lack the one thing that make the Guard a force to be reckoned with: [[ZergRush sheer quantity]]. Happens depressingly often with the Imperial Guard as well, [[SpotlightStealingSquad especially in stories where the protagonists are]] [[CreatorsPet Space Marines]]. When Tyranids appear in fluff, they're usually the ones delivering the curb-stomp.
33	** Meta-example: the Tyranids long relied on the "Nidzilla" strategy: rather than the iconic HordeOfAlienLocusts[=/=]ZergRush approach, go for [[{{Kaiju}} a few but very dangerous monstrous creatures]] with high Toughness and multiple wounds. The Dark Eldar, long been a joke army, get a big update that gives them a truckload of weapons with Toughness-ignoring poison effects and [[OneHitKill Instant Death]]. Yep. "Nidzilla" died overnight.
34	** In the ''30K'' version of the game, the Space Wolves Primarch Leman Russ is an absolute close combat monster who'll quickly kill anything that gets within arm's reach of him. Even Horus can't hold out for long against him. The Space Wolves themselves were known during the Great Crusade as "The Rout" because they were the ones the Emperor sent when he ''really'' wanted an enemy crushed. Exhibit A: The Interex.
35	** If a Chaos warband ever manages to summon a [[PhysicalGod Bloodthirster]] then usually the remainder of the conflict will be decided in their favour very quickly.
36	** For specific examples:
37	*** Horus vs. Ollanius Pius. The former was the strongest and most skilled of a bunch of demi-gods ''before'' the Chaos Gods used him as a receptacle for power. The latter was a standard Guardsman, the same as the ones who die in droves against the alien and mutant every day. [[HeroicSacrifice Pius died standing]], if only because his [[FlayedAlive skin]] hit the far wall before the rest of him hit the ground.
38	*** The Battle of Gyros-Thravian. Three Astartes Legions, the Imperial Fists, Space Wolves, and Death Guard under the command of their respective Primarchs, attempted to destroy the WAAAGH! of Warlord Gharkul Blackfang, and even with the combined might of three Legions found themselves on the verge of defeat. [[TheCavalry The Emperor soon arrived with 1,000 Custodes]] and set to work slaughtering the Greenskins, with only 3 Custodians lost to over a hundred thousand Orks cut down and Blackfang himself slain by the Emperor.
39	*** Primarch Sanguinius vs. Ka'Bandha. After a short battle, the greatest of Khorne's daemon lords was sent back to the Warp with no wings, a broken back and a serious case of butthurt. This fight was payback from their first encounter, when Ka'Bandha thrashed Sanguinius and broke the Primarch's legs before slaughtering a score of Blood Angels almost unopposed.
40	*** The Battle of the Blood Nebula. The Imperium, finally having enough of the [[SpaceElves Eldar]], decides to root them out at the source and destroy a Craftworld. Unfortunately, the one they chose was [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Biel-tan]]. Result: an entire Imperial sector fleet annihilated, with Biel-tan taking minimal loss. The defeat was so utterly crushing that it caused the Imperium to drop the whole "exterminate the Eldar" idea and simply deal with them as they crop up, although it didn't stop the Invaders Space Marines from delivering their own curb-stomp on Craftworld Idrahae later. In a three-fer stomping, the survivors of Idrahae [[SummonBiggerFish went to Craftworld Alaitoc for help]], and Alaitoc sent a force to the Invaders' homeworld; as a result, the Invaders were forced to become a fleet-based chapter.
41	*** The Doom of Malan'tai. An entire Eldar Craftworld lost to ''a lone Tyranid zoanthrope''. Ok, admittedly, the stomping happened ''after'' it ate all of the soul energy of the Craftworld's Infinity Circuit, but still, not one of the Eldar's finer moments.
42	*** The [[GreatOffScreenWar War in Heaven]] in ancient times eventually became this. Basically, nigh-invincible robot {{Determinator}}s with guns that can flay atoms vs. Irish {{Druid}} {{Samurai}} SpaceElves that could reincarnate after death and summon PhysicalGods with their minds. Every engagement between the Necrons and the pre-Fall Aeldari ended in an overwhelming victory for the Aeldari, even after the Necrons managed to wipe out the Old Ones. Ultimately, the Necrons went into slumber and the Aeldari inherited the galaxy and bestrode it as arrogant gods... which set them up nicely for [[LookOnMyWorksYeMightyAndDespair the Fall]], as they thought nothing could stop them.
43	*** The Viskeons, a minor xenos race mentioned in the background for an ''Inquisitor'' character, were a {{Proud Warrior Race\|Guy}} who believed in [[HonourBeforeReason noble, honourable conflict, notably holding ranged weapons in disdain]]. The Eldar Farseer [[MagnificentBastard Eldrad Ulthran]] subtly steered the Tyranid Hive Fleet Kraken away from an Eldar maiden world into the Viskeon homeworld. The Viskeons were wiped out in a single night.
44	*** A similar even occured in the days of the Great Crusade, where humanity encountered a species that no longer used open warfare, but had armies fight it out in vast arenas to determine the winner. The Imperial fleet notices the arenas half-full of alien warriors looking expectantly at the sky... Orbital bombardment ensued.
45	*** Pretty much the whole schtick of the [[DarkIsNotEvil Legion of the Damned]] is jumping into battles where the Imperium is on the receiving end of a stomping, and turning the tables. The [[HornyVikings Space Wolves]] are also pretty famous in-universe for dolling these out.
46	*** The so-called Dominion of Fire. Primarch Angron as a daemon prince of Khorne comes out of the Eye of Terror with 50,000 Khorne Berserkers at his back and ravages seventy sectors over two hundred years of bloodshed. It takes the Imperium four Space Marine chapters, ''two Titan legions'' and more than '''''thirty''''' Imperial Guard regiments to retake everything. Later on, Angron comes back on Armaggeddon and the Imperium, taking no chances this time, deploys over one hundred Grey Knight Terminators (super-elite psychic Space Marines specially trained to fight daemons) to cast him back into the Warp. They succeeded, but nearly ''all'' of them died.
47	* ''TabletopGame/TheWitcherGameOfImagination'' has this stance as default toward random mooks and similar enemies and mechanics that actively support that. Characters with Poor or Average skills or stats, short of pure luck, stand almost no chance against those with Good or Excellent parameters, not to mention Legendary. Other than that, there are few in and out of universe examples that can turn really, ''really'' nasty:
48	** Being ambushed by dryads is considered this both in and out of universe. In-universe, they are race of bow-totting {{Cold Sniper}}s and {{Stealth Expert}}s, so when they attack, their enemies usually don't even know what hit them. In gameplay terms, due to all the things they get for [[{{Splat}} being a dryad]] is enough to make them scary - and they can obviously have better skills than the starting ones. Surprise attacks cause all the defenses, regardless of how high they are, being ''reduced to 1''. Even the worst dryad archer can auto-hit anything with defences of ''3''. This allows them to take a really good aim, adding extra modifiers to damage. Or just go directly for vital organs. Or, which is the worst that can happen, simply pour RainOfArrows. A few small squads of dryads can slaughter ''entire batallion'' as if nothing. Worst part? If a character ''somehow'' survives the first round, ''dryads still retain their stealth bonus''.
49	*** To a lesser degree, all kinds of encounters involving rangers play like this. Defense against projectiles only scales with Agility (everything else scales with Agility[=/=]Will and skills). This can be somewhat mitingated with shields, as they provide decent defense against projectiles (up to +3). But if rangers shoot from hidden position, they still have advantage of lowering defenses of their target(s) to 1, allowing to add further modifiers without fear of missing the shot.
50	** Ever heard how BearsAreBadNews? A single bear has more [[HitPoints Vitality]] than most of predators and magical monsters, so it can shrug off some of the most powerful attacks in the game and keep going. It can attack three times per turn, and all of those attacks must concern the same target. And while the rolls for damage already look vicious (a whooping 7d6 in total), the actual scary part is that each attack comes with 12 of ''fixed'' damage, giving 36 of damage, regardless of rolls. And ''maximum'' Vitality of a PC is 35. Oh, and for obvious reasons, [[OhCrap bears are pretty common]].
51	** High vampires are [[LightningBruiser quick and strong enough]] to kill in a single round ''at least'' 3 well-trained and equipped characters. They combine lighting speed with staggering resistance to [[NoSell absolutely everything]] -- not even fire, a standard weakness of all tough enemies, can harm them. And if they will be ''somehow'' harmed, they can regenerate up to 2d6 damage per round. To put that into perspective, a decent melee character can deal about d6+9 with really, really good roll.
52	** A single dragon can take down a small army with ease. Being a huge, flying and fire-breathing lizard with natural armour capable of shrugging most of conventional weapons has a lot to do with this.
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Context CurbStompBattle / TabletopGames