We Have Reserves: Difference between revisions

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

** More like Rei Ayanami. With Shinji, he knows that Unit 01 will most probably allow him to win (''"Ikari, are you truly satisfied with this?"'' '''*smirk*''') And if he fails, there is {{spoiler|[[Kick the Dog|the Dummy System]]}}. and concerning Rei, he cares about her (in his own twisted way) more than she cares about herself...

*** Played straight with other pilots though. In the Unit 03 incident where he casually orders it destroyed with the pilot {{spoiler|Touji in series, Asuka in the Rebuild films}} still inside, and acitvates the Dummy system when Shinji won't do it {{spoiler|and based on his comments about needing Shinji and Rei together in Rebuild, it's hinted he deliberately took the chance to elminate Asuka, so she wouldn't become a unknown extra factor in his plans.}}.

* In the fantasy series ''[[The Death Gate Cycle]]'' one of [[Career Killers|assassin]] Hugh The Hand's jobs was to kill a mercenary captain who tended to take all the money his company was paid for a job, then order them into situations where as many of them died as possible so he wouldn't have to split the pay.

** Hugh was also hired to kill a human army captain that had repeatedly over the course of his career sent many men to their deaths while he ran away. While doing this again, Hugh caught him and listed the names of everyone who had wanted him dead before killing the man.

{{quote|Scum. That's what he called his own soldiers. It's like that bloody civilized game you showed us, Teach! The prawns [sic] are just there to get slaughtered while the king hangs around at the back!}}

** Lord Rust seems to have studied in Hong's class. See what happens with any army he's entrusted to, though his tactics seem to be born from [[Upper Class Twit|blatant stupidity]], rather than malice. One would imagine an army commanded by the troll Sgt Detritus would be more effective, if only because Detritus would lead from the front and scare everyone away.

** The yardstick for measuring ''any'' General in ''[[Discworld]]'' seems to be "massive casualties." While having those casualties coming from the enemy is preferred, having most of them come from your own troops is still perfectly acceptable.

*** Conversely, Generals who manage to achieve victory with relatively few casualties are looked down upon as somehow not playing by the rules.

{{quote|'''Bender:''' Sir, I volunteer for a suicide mission! (Lousy patriotism circuit!)

'''Brannigan:''' That's commendable, son, but when I'm in command, every mission is a suicide mission. }}

{{quote|[[General Failure|"On my signal, all ships will file directly into the enemy death cannons, clogging them with wreckage!"]]}}

* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'': After speaking against a general's plan to throw freshly-recruited troops at the front line, not only does Prince Zuko get half his face burned off, but he gets banished and sent on a [[Snipe Hunt]], too.

{{quote|'''Dr. Blowhole:''' So what if they cut down ten, twenty lobsters? We've got MORE LOBSTERS!}}

** His lobster minions pause in their cheering at that statement and look a little worried. King Julien however has a similar approach to tactics and doesn't look concerned at all.

 

== Other ==

** Note, though, that is not the technical definition of the term "reserves". Reserves are units hoarded to bandage a breech in your line or exploit one broken in the enemies. The technical term for "trading casualties until the superior force wins" is "attrition", although that is only one context of the term. Thus using your reserves for [[We Have Reserves]] is usually suboptimal although it sometimes cannot be avoided.

*** There is an indirect relation between the two concepts. As a weaker army starts to be unable to take the stress of combat it will be tempted to draw on reserves until it is out. "We have reserves" really means "they have none." The result to use a gross allegory is rather like a starving man dissolving his muscle when all the fat is gone. When that point comes however there is no more need for attrition because the superior force can do basically whatever it wants to with it's reserves, and what it wants to do will usually be to launch a blitzkrieg. It is to be noted that there are all kinds of ways to arrange this some both more humane (so to speak) and more [[Guile Hero|clever and artistic]] then merely killing off [[Cannon Fodder]]. For instance in [[World War II]] The Allies made an effort to lure as many enemy units as possible to be out of place doing nothing when the blow fell, thus effectively getting the same results as a Verdun wannabee. This did not always work of course and there was a lot of hard fighting to do in any event. But that shows the link between [[We Have Reserves]] and the actual use of reserves-as well as how cleverness can subvert this trope.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Dead Herring]]

[[Category:Military and Warfare Tropes]]

[[Category:Villains]]

[[Category:Friendly Fire Index]]