GoT Battle of the Bastards Analysis

[PoS]

This is long but its actually very good. Matt the host is an expert on HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts), so his views and suggestions are very informative and definitely opened my eyes. I had thought that Jon Snow was pretty much dead when his army charged in to save him and it was only Sansa's deus ex machina that won it for him at the end. But Matt's suggestions as to how Jon's wildling army might have defeated the Bolton army without the intervention by the knights of the Vale is pretty damn good.

To wit: if Jon Snow's army had shields and pikes and if the giant had a giant shield, they would have won without the last minute intervention by the knights of the Vale.

 

[Gathomas88]

This is long but its actually very good. Matt the host is an expert on HEMA (Historical European Martial Arts), so his views and suggestions are very informative and definitely opened my eyes. I had thought that Jon Snow was pretty much dead when his army charged in to save him and it was only Sansa's deus ex machina that won it for him at the end. But Matt's suggestions as to how Jon's wildling army might have defeated the Bolton army without the intervention by the knights of the Vale is pretty damn good.

To wit: if Jon Snow's army had shields and pikes and if the giant had a giant shield, they would have won without the last minute intervention by the knights of the Vale.

The battle was good, IMO, but a tad contrived in parts. Things like the bodies of the dead piling in just such a way that would allow trapping Jon's forces behind them, and the Bolton forces being so quickly and perfectly able to both size that situation up, and capitalize upon it (literally just a minute or two of reaction time, and precision of movement and formation so keen it looked rehearsed), actually had me thinking of some of the loonier feats I used to pull off during my "Total War" days. :lol:

Meanwhile, things like a huge army of the Knights of the Vale somehow being able to avoid detection on the long march north and take the Boltons completely by surprise were pretty much pure Hollywood. Such a force would have been spotted days out, if not weeks.

As I said, however, I thought it was actually well above average on the whole... Especially for a TV show. Not even HBO's Rome was able to pull off a really good on screen battle during its run time.

 

[PoS]

The battle was good, IMO, but a tad contrived in parts. Things like the bodies of the dead piling in just such a way that would allow trapping Jon's forces behind them, and the Bolton forces being so quickly and perfectly able to both size that situation up, and capitalize upon it (literally just a minute or two of reaction time, and precision of movement and formation so keen it looked rehearsed), actually had me thinking of some of the loonier feats I used to pull off during my "Total War" days. :lol:

Meanwhile, things like a huge army of the Knights of the Vale somehow being able to avoid detection on the long march north and take the Boltons completely by surprise were pretty much pure Hollywood. Such a force would have been spotted days out, if not weeks.

As I said, however, I thought it was actually well above average on the whole... Especially for a TV show. Not even HBO's Rome was able to pull off a really good on screen battle during its run time.

Ah Rome, how I miss thee...

To be fair, they never had anywhere near the budget for GoT when Rome was being produced. Too bad though, because the few scenes they did have was probably the most accurate representation of how a Roman legion actually fought. :mrgreen:

 

[Gathomas88]

Ah Rome, how I miss thee...

To be fair, they never had anywhere near the budget for GoT when Rome was being produced. Too bad though, because the few scenes they did have was probably the most accurate representation of how a Roman legion actually fought. :mrgreen:

They just left out the pilum, and the volleys of such weapons which pretty much always went before a Roman infantry charge!

*history nerd rage *

:lol:

But more seriously... Yeah. It might not be as flashy as say... Braveheart, or LOTR, but a giant formation of guys slowly marching towards one another does make a lot more sense, and is more historically accurate, than having them blindly charge in like Hollywood usually portrays. Your men would exhaust themselves before they even made contact with the enemy.

 

[Anagram]

Meanwhile, things like a huge army of the Knights of the Vale somehow being able to avoid detection on the long march north and take the Boltons completely by surprise were pretty much pure Hollywood. Such a force would have been spotted days out, if not weeks.

I think the creators at one point said that some of the Houses in the southern Part of the North were content to let them pass without warning Ramsay. And that Ramsay thought they were afraid enough of him that he had their loyalty so he didn't bother to have his own men stationed there.

 

[Gathomas88]

I think the creators at one point said that some of the Houses in the southern Part of the North were content to let them pass without warning Ramsay. And that Ramsay thought they were afraid enough of him that he had their loyalty so he didn't bother to have his own men stationed there.

Eh. Well... I suppose stranger things have happened in the history of real life warfare.

It just struck me as being a bit too "Hollywood" convenient for my tastes.

 

[Anagram]

Eh. Well... I suppose stranger things have happened in the history of real life warfare.

It just struck me as being a bit too "Hollywood" convenient for my tastes.

Oh I agree, and I was disappointed they went the deus ex army route at all, but at least there's a semi-plausible explanation so I don't have to suspend disbelief entirely.