I am not going to bury the lead in this article: fantasy armies are simply terrible when it comes to conducting security operations. It certainly builds tension with the audience when one side is on the cusp of losing a battle, quickly followed by a moment of pure exhilaration when an ally arrives unexpectedly and saves the day, but nothing infuriates me more than when I see this happen on-screen. This is because the opposing army is apparently great at tactical operations right up until the point the script requires them to not be. Where is their reconnaissance element? Where are the pickets? Where is the lone scout who can warn their commander an enemy army is like to arrive in force within the next half hour?
According to Field Manual (FM) 3-98, Reconnaissance and Security Operations, Security Operations are to “provide early and accurate warning of enemy operations, to provide the force being protected with time and maneuver space within which to react to the enemy, and to develop the situation to allow commanders to effectively use their force;” this essentially means security operations keep a force from being surprised or they protect a force if they believe contact is likely to occur. Whether it is the fault of the tactical Commanders on screen or the military advisors off it, it is painstakingly obvious neither have ever glanced in the direction of FM 3-98. Fantasy warfare would be far more realistic, but much less exciting, if armies conducted proper security operations during an engagement.
Security Fundamentals
FM 3-98 states that there are five fundamentals of security operations: provide early and accurate warning, provide reaction time and maneuver space, orient on the force or facility to be secured, perform continuous reconnaissance, and maintain enemy contact. We will cover (pun intended) each of these in greater detail below by highlighting how they failed to be used in fantasy battles.
Provide Early and Accurate Warning: To provide adequate security to the main body, the security element should be able to provide an accurate picture of the enemy force to the commander in a timely manner while operating as far as possible from friendly forces. This is usually completed by a Screening element and is the reason why so many fantasy Commanders are surprised on the battlefield. In Battle of the Bastards, the ninth episode in Game of Thrones’ sixth season, the Army of House Bolton has enveloped the Army of House Stark and the Free Folk, slowly diminishing their numbers by advancing with their shield phalanx. As the situation grows increasingly dire (pun intended), a horn sounds from afar, and the cavalry of House Arryn come charging into the surprised spearman. If Ramsey Bolton would have simply set some pickets or had small reconnaissance elements to his left, right, and rear, he would have had advance warning of the arriving cavalry. This would have allowed him ample time to finish off the Army of House Stark, instead of toying with them, before retrograding to Winterfell to wait out the unlikely siege of a cavalry-based force. (for complete truth in lending, this is the battle which made me want to write this article. From start to finish, for each combatant, the whole engagement just doesn’t make any sense from a tactical perspective).
Provide Reaction Time and Maneuver Space: This security fundamental helps to provide enough early warning or protection to the main body so the Commander has both the time and the space to adjust their course of action to account for the enemy force. The farther away this occurs from the main body and the more resistance the security element gives to the opposing force, the more time the Commander has to make a decision. During the Battle of the Blackwater, occurring in the ninth episode of Game of Thrones’ second season, Blackwater, the forces of Stannis Baratheon are assaulting King’s Landing, whose defense is led by Tyrion Lannister. After most of Stannis’ fleet is destroyed by wildfire in Blackwater Bay, he lands his remaining troops and assaults the walls of the city. As Stannis’ forces are about to breach the walls and sack the city, the combined cavalry forces of House Lannister and House Tyrell arrive just in the nick of time, routing the besiegers. Had Stannis employed a security force to the West of King’s Landing, he would have known of the arriving army and could have adjusted his strategy accordingly. Unfortunately, Stannis Baratheon would not learn from this experience and would fail to apply proper security fundamentals during a later engagement.
Orient on the Force or Facility to be Secured: This fundamental states the security force “focuses all its actions on protecting and providing early warning to the secured force.” This can also be viewed as either a Screen or a form of Area security and could really have been heeded during The Dance of Dragons, the ninth episode of Game of Thrones’ fifth season. As Stannis Baratheon’s army camps in the North between Castle Black and Winterfell, 20 good men from House Bolton infiltrate and set fire to his camp, destroying siege engines, burning food stores, and killing hundreds of horses. This action makes Stannis begrudgingly decide to sacrifice his daughter, Shireen, to the Lord of Light in order to set the conditions to defeat the army of House Bolton; it does not work, and Stannis is killed along with the rest of his Soldiers after hopelessly attacking Winterfell. If Stannis would have focused on ensuring his base camp’s perimeter was secure, he could have prevented his and Shireen’s deaths, not to mention those of his entire army.
Perform Continuous Reconnaissance: A security element always needs to be conducting active reconnaissance to ensure they are answering their Commander’s Priority Intelligence Requirements (PIR) to facilitate the decision-making process. The security force “continuously seeks the enemy and reconnoiters key terrain” to accomplish this mission. This can be especially true if the main body is already engaged, as it gives the security element the opportunity to push out further to ensure they are not surprised or flanked by their opponent or another force. During the Battle of the Pelennor Fields in The Return of the King, the third film in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Witch-king of Angmar disregards this fundamental in order to press his already overwhelming force against the walls of Minas Tirith. This includes his Nazgul riding their fell beasts, who are able to cover and observe great distances, and are the perfect Information Collection (IC) assets for such a security mission. Instead of using these or other assets to Screen his flanks, the Witch-king fails to identify the Rohirrim cavalry, who then proceed to charge down on his army and clear them from the field. Had the Witch-king identified the cavalry element before their arrival, he would have certainly prepared a defense line to account for them, taken the field at Minas Tirith, and likely ended the War of the Ring.
Maintain Enemy Contact: Unfortunately, this is not just a trope in fantasy settings; it also makes appearances in on-screen “historical” battles. For a security element to be effective, once (visual) contact is gained with the enemy, they need to remain in contact until that enemy has effectively retrograded from the field. During the Battle of Stirling (Bridge) in the movie Braveheart, after the English Army’s initial arrow volley, William Wallace, the Commander of the Scottish Army, signals to his cavalry to ride away from the battle. The English Commander believes they have withdrawn from the field and he orders his cavalry and infantry forward in a full attack, failing to provide some of his cavalry to maintain visual contact of the Scottish horses; he also fails to provide Area security for his archers, but we are not at that type of security yet. Thus, him, his staff, and archers are the only ones surprised when the very same Scottish cavalry element comes crashing down upon them from the rear. It sure makes great cinema, but only for the sake of terrible tactics.
Security Types
Screen: According to Army Doctrine Publication (ADP) 3-90, Offense and Defense, Screens are a “type of security operation that primarily provides early warning to the protected force.” As long as the main body provides a small Screening and reconnaissance force, it is extremely difficult to surprise the protected force without alerting the Screening element first. Although Stannis Baratheon would commit a similar tactical error in a later episode of Game of Thrones (previously noted in this article), he would benefit from his opponent’s lack of a Screening force in The Children, the tenth episode of season four. As the Wildling (Free Folk) Army is camped at the base of The Wall, Stannis Baratheon’s cavalry charge surprises and crushes their forces. As their enemy had historically always been The Night’s Watch, usually coming from Castle Black, the Wildlings failed to provide Screening elements to their West, North, and East. Even though they would have likely still been no match against the heavily-armored cavalry, a Screening force would have at least been able to provide them with an early warning which could have facilitated either a hasty defense or a more organized withdrawal.
Guard: This is a “type of security operation done to protect the main body by fighting to gain time while preventing enemy ground observation of and direct fire against the main body.” FM 3-98 further states the Commander “assigns a guard operation when the main body expects contact or has an exposed flank that requires greater protection than a screen can provide.” A Guard differs from a Screen in that the former is expecting contact from the enemy while the latter is not; a Cover can operate independently of the main body, while the Guard cannot. The lack of employing a Guard can be seen during The Two Towers, the second film in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. During the Battle of the Hornburg, the Uruk-Hai from Isengard have breached the Deeping Wall and are using a battering ram against the final door to the keep at Helm’s Deep. Given the Rohirrim were renowned for their cavalry and no cavalry had yet been present at the battle, it would have been tactically sound for the Uruk-Hai to employ a Guard at the mouth of the canyon to protect their main body against this inevitability. Failing to utilize this type of security, Gandalf and the Rohirrim cavalry arrived as promised at “first light on the fifth day,” immediately clearing the field of the Uruk-Hai. Had the army of Saruman chosen to employ a Guard within Helm’s Deep, it would have not only provided early warning to the main body, but it would have given them plenty of time to establish a deliberate defense of pikes against the charging cavalry.
Cover: Referencing ADP 3-90, a Cover is a “type of security operation done independent of the main body to protect them by fighting to gain time while preventing enemy ground observation of and direct fire against the main body.” Since the Covering force operates apart from the main body, it needs to be significantly larger in strength than a Screen or Guard. An excellent example of an army which should have employed a Cover while maneuvering its main body is the Army of House Lannister during the first season of Game of Thrones. During the ninth episode of the season, Baelor, the Army of House Stark is facing two armies from House Lannister, one commanded by Tywin Lannister and the other by Jamie Lannister, and both numbering 30,000 men; Robb Stark, Commander of the Army of House Stark, has only 18,000 troops. In a brilliant deception operation, he sends a token force against Tywin’s army while surprising and defeating Jamie’s at the Battle of the Whispering Wood. With a numerical advantage of 12,000 troops, Jamie could easily have employed a Cover to not only provide early warning and protection for his main body, but the Covering element could have possibly defeated the Stark host themselves.
Area Security: This is a “type of security operation conducted to protect friendly forces, lines of communications, and activities within a specific area,” usually a route or a convoy. This one seems relatively easy, in that if you have a place or a route of which you want to maintain control, you must secure it. In The Two Towers, Saruman the White sends his 10,000-strong army of Uruk-Hai to crush the Rohirrim at Helm’s Deep. But because he fails to leave even a token garrison of troops, Isengard is easily overrun by Ents. Lesson learned in the fantasy world: If you fail to secure your perimeter, you may just get beaten by trees. As stated before, Convoy or Route Security is another form of Area Security, but one which fantasy Commanders are equally unfamiliar. In The Spoils of War, the fourth episode of Game of Thrones’ seventh season, Jamie Lannister and the Army of House Lannister have just taken Highgarden, the former keep of House Tyrell, and have begun to move their stores of gold and grain back to King’s Landing. In the ensuing Battle of the Goldroad, because of poor Convoy and Route security, Daenerys Targaryen, Drogon, and 100,000 Dothraki cavalrymen, and probably a touch of scriptwriting magic, the Lannister Army gets caught completely unaware and is brutally massacred. Although Jamie Lannister certainly should have provided better route security, especially for all the riches and supply from Highgarden, this one probably gets a pass; I hope even he would have heard the sound of or noticed the dust cloud of 100,000 cavalry long before they reached the loot train.
Not every fantasy Commander is inept though when it comes to security operations. In the 1998 animated film, Mulan, the head of the Chinese Imperial Army, General Li, sends out (at least) two scouts to Screen his force from the Hun army. The scouts are captured by the Huns and one of them is killed (because it only takes one man to deliver a message), but General Li is at least conducting some form of security, which is more than I can say for the Witch-king of Angmar, Jamie Lannister (twice), Stannis Baratheon (twice), Saruman the White (kind of twice), Ramsey Bolton,… need I go on? For all the good it did him, I am still just a little disappointed a cartoon had more common sense to monitor enemy movements and protect his force than the greatest military minds of Westeros and Middle-Earth.
As unfortunate a trope as this is, it is thankfully (usually) limited to two-dimensional warfare in a fantasy setting, as this issue is not particularly prevalent in Science Fiction due the presence of Warp, Hyperspace, and Faster-than-Light (FTL) travel; Area security is really all you have unless you want to Screen the entire galaxy. I have not seen any of House of the Dragon or The Rings of Power series, but if the above examples are any indication, failures in security operations are probably still alive and well in both Westeros and Middle-Earth, respectively. As I stated before, there are plenty of opportunities for fantasy Commanders to employ better security tactics which would seriously hamper an opposing force’s ability to surprise their main body and turn the battle against them. But then we would be living in fantasy worlds where Jamie Lannister, the Witch-king of Angmar, Ramsey Bolton, and Saruman the White are always winning. And we can’t have that now, can we?
Major Robert A. Calkins is an officer in the United States Army and currently serving as the S2 for the 101st Airborne Division Artillery at Fort Campbell, KY. He has previously served as the Committee Chief for the Military Intelligence Captains Career Course, as well as the Executive Officer and Operations Officer for the 309th Military Intelligence Battalion. Even though the tactics are terrible, the Army of the Living should have lost, and it involves dragons, zombies, giants, and a three-eyed raven, he believes the Battle of Winterfell is probably the most realistic battle in all of Game of Thrones, possibly because you couldn’t see anything.
The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the United States Army, the U.S. government, or the Citadel.
The Angry Staff Officer 