We Have Reserves: Difference between revisions

There are a lot of ways to have a character [[Kick the Dog]]. In a war movie or battle sequence, if you want to show that a general, king, or [[Armchair Military|commander]] is evil (really evil, not a [[Punch Clock Villain]] and way beyond a [[Designated Villain]]), all you have to do is show his casual and/or utter disregard for the lives of his own troops by [[Suicide Mission|either knowingly ordering them into certain slaughter or giving an order that ensures their slaughter]]. Retreat is, of course, forbidden; he expects [[Attack! Attack! Attack!]] without a second thought, and a [[Last Stand]] before retreat. (And he usually does it from perfect safety.) [[General Failure]] will often upgrade this from a last resort to his preferred tactic.

 

 

Note that this does ''not'' have to be done strictly in a war setting, and works just fine if, say, the [[Big Bad]] or [[The Dragon]] decides to sacrifice someone in a [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]], or a small band of [[Mooks]]. Employing this under such circumstances when he probably does ''not'', in fact, have reserves, is a form of the [[Villain Ball]].

* In ''[[Claymore]]'', {{spoiler|it is revealed fairly early on that the shadowy organization in charge of Claymores sends them on suicide missions whenever they become too dangerous. Possibly justified by the tendency of Claymores to suffer [[Superpower Meltdown|Super Power Meltdowns]].}}

** {{spoiler|this doesn't really count since they are not throwing them against those opponent because they do not care if they die but because ''they want them''' to die because they are too problematic. This trope still applies for this series however since the slaughter at Pieta was pretty much this (the organization throw all of its "less valuable" warriors into a battle they could not survive without hoping for them to accomplish anything worthwile aside from slowing the enemy a little).}}

** This was basically the strategy of the Chinese Federation, who used 4th Generation mechs when the rest of the world had 5th-9th Generation Knightmares at their disposal. However, they had way more troops than the other countries, hence their invocation of this trope.

* Often demonstrated by the villains in ''[[One Piece]]'', usually in contrast to the protagonists who are shown to be caring for their crewmates and avoid innocent casualties. Examples: Captain Kuro who {{spoiler|uses a randomly striking killing technique while his men are in the area and planned to off them ALL anyway to cover his tracks ("They are worthless except to further my plans!")}}; Enel who would {{spoiler|destroy a kingdom full of his own subjects because only he deserves to live in the sky}}; and of course massive idiot Spandam who doesn't really care about {{spoiler|(accidentally) invoking ten battleships to obliterate Enies Lobby and all its staff and soldiers}} if it gets him his success. The most multi-layered Bastard award goes to Crocodile, who while posing as {{spoiler|[[Fake Ultimate Hero|a local hero protector of the populace]]}}, incites a {{spoiler|civil war}} in Alabasta, and during the climax of which {{spoiler|has a massive cannon aimed at the centre of the warring parties (including his own agents provocateur among them) to wipe them all out in one swoop. More than that, the cannon's giant bomb is rigged with a timer to go off even if it isn't launched, which Crocodile's own elite agents guarding the cannon don't know!}}

** [[Even Evil Has Standards|Revulsion over this]] is what drives Gara Petothel's [[Heel Face Turn|defection to the Republic]] in ''[[X Wing Series|Wraith Squadron]]'', after Trigit decides to sacrifice the tens of thousands of crew members to keep his Star Destroyer out of Republic hands. Trigit's boss, though, is a little more canny - in ''Iron Fist'' he decides to hire a fleet full of mercenaries and pirates to get shot at in lieu of his troops during a major attack.

** After the [[New Jedi Order|Vong Invasion]] and the Empire coming back, they seem to have stopped this; the TIE Fighters have shields (and had since the days of Thrawn), and stormtroopers know how to aim now.

* Done humorously in the movie ''[[Mystery Men]]'', where Casanova Frankenstein kills his own men for no other reason than to mention to the heroes he is so evil and uncaring that he kills his own men.

* In ''[[Batman Forever]]'', Two-Face fires indiscriminately at Batman while one of his goons is in the way.

** Similarly in ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]'', Tony Zucco, (an extortionist who set up the "accident" that killed Dick Grayson's parents), shoots at Batman with a Tommy gun, despite the fact that multiple mooks are likely to be hit as well and beg him not to.

* ''[[Raiders of the Lost Ark]]'' has Indy in a fight with a group of Major Toht's henchmen. Towards the end of this he ends up wrestling one of them for a gun. Toht gives his other henchman the order to "Shoot them. Shoot them both!". This doesn't work too well, since both Indy and the mook now want to use the gun on the same target.

** In ''Temple of Doom'', Mola Ram pushes his own men off the bridge as he attempts to make Indy fall off.

* ''[[300]]''.

{{quote|'''Xerxes''': Imagine what horrible fate awaits my enemies when I would gladly kill any of my own men for victory.

** Alternatively, Miller realized that a single good sniper is simply worth more than four regular infantrymen. After all, snipers have more training and expertize, while also being less common and capable of filling the role of other infantrymen. [[War Is Hell|In some occasions, some lives really are worth more than others.]]

* In ''[[Galaxy Quest]]'', the [[Big Bad]] orders the Protector destroyed once he learns that the Galaxy Quest crew escaped, even though many of his men are still on board.

* The 1957 Kirk Douglas film ''[[Paths of Glory]]'' is about a French general in [[World War I]] ordering a desperate plan to at long last break through the German lines, knowing full well the attack is certain to kill most of the men used in it (he even has the statistically probable numbers worked out). And he's doing it mainly to earn a promotion.

** During the battle, when the rest of the French soldiers have come up out of their trench and advanced across the no-man's land, a SNAFU has caused the French B Company to still be hanging back in their own trench. The French General orders his artillery to ''fire on B Company'' in the hope that they'll be scared out of the trench and attack.

** This is forshadowed by a battle in Battle School, in which Ender's army is forced to fight ''two'' deeply-entrenched armies. Realizing that even his genius tactics can't defeat them, {{spoiler|he has the entire army make a formation and charge the enemy lines. Just in case, he has five boys perform he victory ritual if they can get close enough to the enemy gate}}. Surprisingly, he wins, although most of his army is "destroyed". Colonel Graff then changes the rules requiring the other army to be fully "destroyed" before victory can be declared. Ender explains that he didn't expect to win and has a mini-breakdown after that, refusing to participate in battles.

** In ''Shadow of the Hegemon'', this is the strategy used by {{spoiler|the Indian army when invading Burma}}, and everybody is quick to point out how stupid it is. Just because {{spoiler|you have the world's largest army}} doesn't mean your supply lines are up to the task, especially if the enemy keeps harassing them. Of course, this is all part of the [[Big Bad]]'s [[Xanatos Gambit]] in order to {{spoiler|allow China to strike and take India in under a week}} before proceeding to take {{spoiler|Thailand}}. Strangely, the book takes the [[Adults Are Useless]] approach, with no adult seeing how bad this strategy is.

{{quote|''You've seen our numbers, {{spoiler|Edmure}}. You've seen the ladders, the towers, the trebuchets, the rams. If I give the command, my cousin will bridge your moat and break your gate. Hundreds will die, most of them your own. Your former bannermen will make up the first wake of attackers, so you'll start your day by killing the fathers and brothers of the men who died for you at {{spoiler|the Twins}}. The second wave will be {{spoiler|Freys}}, I have no lack of those. My westermen will follow when your archers are short of arrows and your knights so weary they can hardly lift their blades.''}}

** Tywin Lannister also used this at times, for example putting all the least experienced soldiers on the same flank so that enemy will break their lines and rush into a trap. For extra [[Kick the Dog]] points, he set his son Tyrion to lead them ''without informing Tyrion of the plan''.

* In [[James Swallow]]'s [[Warhammer 40000]] novel ''[[Blood Angels|Deus Encarmine]]'', Iskavan is told that he and his Word Bearers had been sacrificed to lure the Blood Angels to Shenlong, and having served that purpose, they will get no reinforcements. Then, Iskavan's reaction to the news is to start a rampage with women, children, and [[Kick Them While They Are Down|the wounded]].

** In ''Deus Sanguinius'', the Warmaster points out that he sacrificed them for this. He gets no sympathy.

* Emperor Ezar Vorbarra in the ''[[Vorkosigan Saga]]'' has this mindset and takes this trope a step further - he has the army mount a hopeless, bloody attack on another planet in order to get his [[Complete Monster|insane son]] killed off without anyone suspecting assassination. Too bad about all the ''other'' soldiers who were killed ...

* Empress Jadis in ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia|The Magician's Nephew]]'' brags that she "poured out the blood of her armies like water" in the civil war with her sister for control of Charn. And then trumped that by speaking the Deplorable Word, an unspecified spell which destroyed Charn and killed everything on it except herself.

* [[Subverted Trope]] in the ''[[Dune|Legends of Dune]]'' trilogy, where [[AI Is a Crapshoot|Omnius]] and his [[Robot War|Thinking Machines]] fights battles in an entirely logical and efficient manner. A massive fleet will not engage the inferior enemy if the casualties are above the acceptable parameter, even though machines aren't really supposed to care about casualties. It falls to his ruthless [[Brain In a Jar]] generals, who do fit this trope, to come up with tactics that surprise the enemy. One of their tactics - [[Colony Drop|dropping an entire cruiser on a city]] to destroy the scrambler field emitters that are keeping the machine forces from invading.

* Cultural-divide example in [[Codex Alera]]: when the Marat go to war, the first wave of an attack is always the green recruits, the warriors who most recently became of age. The ones who survive that are considered to have been smiled on by The One, and get to participate in the battle proper.

* In ''[[Shadowmarch]]'', Autarch has no qualms about letting his soldiers die meaninglessly, as long as he accomplishes his goal. During the siege of {{spoiler|Hierosol}}, he ordered [[Zerg Rush|full scale attack]] through the breach in city's walls, despite being warned of massive casualties it will cause among his troops. He explained that his soldiers should be happy to fight and die for their autarch.

* This seems to be the attitude of the Young Army in ''[[Septimus Heap]]'', given the callous disregard for survival they have.

 

 

== Live-Action TV ==

** It should be said this wasn't a major departure from standard Dominion tactics; the genetically engineered Jem'Hadar were programmed to see themselves as disposable, all willing to attain victory for their gods The Founders at any cost.

* Like most tropes, this shows up in ''[[Doctor Who]]'', sometimes on the [[Planet of Hats]]. Still, a human example: Henry Van Statten seems less concerned with his guards than he is with a certain relic they're ''fighting for their lives against''.

** As is that of the Bretonnian peasants. Fortunately they have longbows and can kill at distance and run away should things get queasy.

* Kobolds in ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' tend to use such tactics, since they are possibly the weakest and fastest-breeding humanoid race. The soldiers are proud to do it, too.

** Goblins are likewise content to get mowed down en masse because they breed even faster than kobolds. Orcs do it too, but mainly just 'cause they're dumb, overconfident, and have no sense of tactics.

** 4th Edition has a feat for ''players'' which increases the power of area attacks if you include allies in the area. Reserves or not, you're expendable if I want my +2.

* In ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'', Darth Malak orders the destruction of Taris despite the presence of his own troops occupying the planet (cut content would have established that the Sith organized a hasty evacuation, but no reference to it remains in the final game).

** Another example from Malak, at the finale when he learns the heroes are rampaging through his base, he orders all of his troops, including apprentices, to attack. A surprised admiral asks if he really thinks that will work, to which he scoffs and says it is only to slow them down.

* ''[[Star Wars]]: [[The Force Unleashed]]'' sums up Darth Vader's policy this way:

{{quote|'''Juno Eclipse:''' I don't understand. Why would Vader allow us to destroy so many Imperial targets?

'''Starkiller:''' To sell the deception. Credits, starships, Imperial lives... they're all meaningless to Vader. }}

** In the second game, Baron Tarko has a similar attitude.

* Many [[Real Time Strategy]] games will end up either encouraging this in their players, or doing so as their AI. Most noticable in the first ''[[Command & Conquer]]'' game, when using ground troops against the laser towers. Laser tower = one guaranteed dead enemy soldier, or one very heavily damaged enemy vehicle, every few seconds. Infantry = lots of 'em, I can crank them out so fast I can't deploy them fast enough, and eventually.

** While various factions in various games incur bonuses for sacrificing troops. Examples: ''C&C Red Alert Yuri's Revenge'' where Yuri can feed troops (own or mind-controlled enemies) to the Meat Grinder for cash. Starcraft and Warcraft III where Zerg and Undead can 'eat' their own troops for energy/mana.

** Strongly averted in ''[[Company of Heroes]]''. The costs of getting a unit or vehicle to the frontlines is much, much more than the cost of reinforcing or repairing it (compare 270 manpower units for a basic rifle company, compared to 30 units each for each member of the squad, up to five). In addition, the American units gain veteran bonuses as they survive in combat, and veterancy only survives if the unit does: if your elite unit of riflemen are all killed, they take their elite status to the grave with them.

* A rare example of this trope in play with a military that ''does'' value its personnel's lives is in ''[[Mass Effect]]''. According to the [[Encyclopedia Exposita|Codex]], fighter groups that launch torpedo bombing runs on larger ships will ''always'' suffer casualties due to virtual intelligence-controlled GARDIAN laser point defense; the only way to defeat these defenses is to overwhelm them with sheer numbers until they overheat. As a result, fighter wings always take heavy casualties when attacking an enemy fleet.

** It should be noted though that while the first fighter waves are always ''hit'', it's not as if everybody in the first wave dies. Indeed, because the strength of the lasers drops off the greater the distance to the target due to beam diffusion, it's rare for the GARDIAN systems to score more than a few actual ''kills.'' What generally happens instead is that the first waves of fighters take a bit of damage and are forced to return to base.

** Geth apparently have no survival instinct, due to being a purely software species. The geth don't have a sense of individuality, and the individual perceptions of each geth program can be shared so that all geth experience them together. As a result, geth don't place much value on individual mobile platforms; if one is destroyed, the geth in that platform transmit their memories and experiences to the nearest carrier, and that data is uploaded to the total gestalt geth [[Mind Hive]], effectively making the geth immortal.

*** However, they aren't stupid - they will still try to preserve mobile platforms if possible in order to to maximize combat effectiveness and resources. Not to mention what happens to the programs within mobile platforms not connected to the geth collective.

** [[Lampshade Hanging|"Sacrificing minions - is there any problem it ''can't'' solve?"]]

** In the Azure City siege, the death knight has hobgoblins throw themselves at the wall and die by the hundreds so that their bodies will create a ramp he can ride up.

* [http://rocr.net/index.php?p=20070604 This webcomic strip], part of the ''Crossover Wars''.

* Prince Ansom used this against Parson in the first book of ''[[Erfworld]]''; and nearly succeeded, although Parson was very good at exploiting the weaknesses of that strategy:

* At the end of ''[[Beast Wars]]'' Megatron succumbs to this, killing more of his soldiers than the Maximals ever did. Presumably he assumed that when you have a giant warship and superpowers (even by Transformer standards of being big immortal war machines) you don't need a lot of help.

** By the time of the less popular sequel series, Megatron took this to the logical extreme with his [[Mecha-Mooks|Vehicon hordes]]. He had so many that the Maximals tore dozens into scrap metal every battle without making a dent in his overall forces.

{{quote|'''Chef''': Operation Human Shield, my ass!}}

** Not to mention Operation Human Shield members were literally tied to the outside of tanks to supplement their armor!