Lit 10 Great Military Leaders by Jason Fry - From Star Wars Insider Special Edition 2013

Oh come on Jason, at least put Natasi Daala up there beside Wilhuff Tarkin, since she used a Tarkin tactic without realizing just how outdated it really was, especially considering who she was facing.

Awesome! Must get.

>Daala
>In a list containing competent officers

Well, that list is unfortunately a bit of a sausage fest...

I think riots are breaking out on Deservo right now.

Who cares about the Tion , how could he not list Kossak the Hutt?

I think it's a very reasonable list overall. The argument can certainly be made to put any of those names up there, which is the most important part. It is always possible to argue others are more worthy than those listed in a structure of this kind, but I don't see anyone would doesn't belong among that peer set.

True. It does better in the alien department thankfully 4 out of 10 confirmed, and Pers Pradeux's species is presumably revealed in the article.

What would be some candidates for notable female military greats?

Satele Shan and Meetra Surik are both possibles. There's also General Elin Garza. Unfortunately the era for which we have the most data - the Empire-New Republic periods, was dominated by an openly misogynistic Imperial military, and since the Rebel officer core drew very heavily from Imperial defectors that necessarily carried over into the rebellion as well.

I knew that Tarkin was a great politician, but I never got the impression that he was skilled militarily. Quite the opposite in fact.

The Star Wars galaxy's mighty starfleets and vast armies don't command themselves--they need strong leaders who can grasp the intricacies of huge battles while remaining calm in the face of imminent death.

These are Jason Fry suggestions for the 10 best . . . and the most ruthless.

1. Ackbar: Warrior, starship designer, master tactician, and organizational genius. Won key victories at Endor, Bilbringi, and at Coruscant twice. Highly effective commander, made the Alliance into a formidable fighting force. "Skywalker destroyed the Emperor, but Ackbar destroyed the Empire."

2. Tarkin: Son of an ambitious Outer Rim family, came to distrust the Republic's civilian leadership in fighting effectively against its enemies. First of the New Order's grand moffs, he created the Empire's most influential military doctrine. If the Empire could and would destroy entire planets to quell insurgencies, then no Imperial citizen would tolerate his neighbor's rebellion.

3. Thrawn: One of the Emperor's most valuable--as well as least appreciated--servants, he eliminated many threats to galactic civilization without their even knowing such threats existed. Despite his being a Grand Admiral, the New Order's anti-alien bias denied him much of the credit he deserved for his tactics and leadership. Despite his death 9 ABY, mere rumors of his return caused a wave of fear throughout the galaxy.

4. Xim: Pirate prince from the Tion Hegemony who conquered huge swaths of territory 25,000 years before the existence of the Empire, the line between history and legend regarding Xim has become hopelessly blurred. Vain and ceaselessly aggressive, yet also remembered for his empire with vast fleets, 'droid armies, and highly efficient war machines.

5. Nantz: A public relations nightmare, he was kept away from politicians and civilians alike out of fear that the stooped, cadaverous, and brutally candid admiral would yet again utter an insensitive or offensive remark about his latest military campaign. While Nantz made life difficult for public affairs officers, he made life utter hell for Imperials facing him, masterminding New Republic's drive into the Core Worlds.

6. Mandalore the Indomitable: After a vision while on the world of Shogun, the Taung warrior and clan leader ordered his people to prepare for an invasion of Republic space. The Crusaders overran worlds such as Vevoota, Basilisk, and Kuar, aiming for the carbonite-rich Empress Teta sytem. Dueling the fallen Jedi Ullic Qel-Droma there in 3996, Mandalore the Indomitable was defeated, his forces serving the Qel-Droma in assault on Coruscant at the climax of the Great Sith War. The Taung was to die on Dxun, but the Republic would again receive the assaults of the Mandalorians.

7. Revan: Continued raids by the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders a generation after the Great Sith War leaves the Republic tottering. The Jedi Council refuses to be drawn into the conflict, drawing sharp disagreement from many within the Order who argued that the Jedi were abdicating their duties toward the peoples of the galaxy. Led by the one later known as Revan, these Jedi served the Republic's military, with Revan eventually taking command of the campaign against Mandalore. With his ally Malak, he relentlessly hounded the Mandalorians until their defeat at Malchor V in 3960 BBY. Though his later was tragic, he was heralded as the Republic's savior at the time.

8. Pradeux: A Pius Dea admiral and key part of the Renunciate conspiracy to overthrow the Contispex Chancellors. Turning Prefsbelt IV into a hidden base for Renunciate naval officers, it was there that the downfall of the Pius Dea Faithful was plotted. With victory at Uquine, Pradeux led the effort to reorganize the Republic Navy, and generations of naval cadets still pay homage to the Father of the Navy.

9. Stazi: Escaping the Imperial ambush at the Battle of Camaas in 130 ABY, Stazi took his surviving warships and began a guerilla campaign against his foes. Proving adept at both fleet actions and supply raids, the defiant, determined, and fearless admiral became the living symbol of the Alliance. His officers and pilots would die for him; Stazi himself would rather die than kneel to the Sith.

10. Pellaeon: The epitome of a naval officer, his life was spent aboard Republic, Imperial, Remnant, and Galactic Alliance warships. Though not an ardent supporter of the New Order's policies, his belief in order, discipline, continuity, and tradition kept him in the Navy with no thought of joining the Rebel Alliance. His service under Thrawn showed Pellaeon that he could never be in the Grand Admiral's league as a strategist, but he learned the value of flexibility and perhaps, a certain amount of ambition. Tiring of the machinations of power-hungry Moffs and warlords, Pellaeon learned to dictate to them rather than reflexively accepting their orders. By the time of his assassination in 41 ABY, Pellaeon was almost universally respected.

Apparently Tarkin got promoted to Admiral this week.

He is figthing the Seps, he properly just jumped into a besieged systems with a force half the size of the enemy and Grievous called for a retreat.

I'm glad Ackbar is ranked first, although placing Tarkin above Thrawn seems an odd move, but I guess Tarkin did influence overall Imperial strategy a lot. Rule by terror, and with how Imperial projects are always weak against Rebel starfighters, that kind of thing.

I glanced through the issue in a bookstore, not buying it as mostly I don't care about the magazines (and its not cheap either at about $15), but nice basic summary of those figures from various eras from Xim and a Renunciate Admiral from ancient history to Stazi in the Legacy era.

Although it also referenced Ackbar serving the Mon Cala king, reflecting recent idiocy, er, canon, thanks to TCW , as well as using the term Mon Cala twice (and the words Mon Calamari once, I think), so its a nice use of canon, just too bad that canon is getting worse all the time.

A picture of Nantz too, though its the same one as from his Wookieepedia article. A few pictures and artwork from various sources (the iconic picture of Acbkar on the bridge is the background for the first two pages of the article, though with a really weird... filter on the image, sort of like what you'd find in some of the Essential guides with their "photorealistic" images). No picture for the Pius Dea admiral or Xim I think, Tarkin's image took up most of two pages with Thrawn barely getting half a page for his bio and an image. The last seven were spread out over two pages, with a picture of Revan (and Malak) taking up the middle of those two pages (I forget from where, maybe an Essential Guide, a Timeline video or something, the one with the really tall Revan) and the other six getting tiny boxes and some artwork from various sources (nothing new I think). Revan's bio focuses on the Mandalorian Wars with only a vague reference to his later fall.

Sad to see some figures missing (Bel Iblis or even Kre'fey), but I like the wide selection of figures from various eras and conflicts at least. Mainly they're all famous and pivotal figures from various eras, but also just really vague and a brief general summary of their careers, typical for the Insider magazine, so I didn't bother picking up this issue just for this article alone.

Tessala Corvae is a female Major General in the Imperial Army from Lords of the Expanse, a WEG RPG boxed supplement.

I'm skeptical about Ackbar. According to TCW, he doesn't know what a trap is

Tarkin at #2 is absurd.

Well he did kind off oversee the pacifying of most of the Outer Rim and came up with the Death Star.

The Death Star, a complete and utter failure that Tarkin died on because he was too arrogant to listen to his subordinates and take a ride on a shuttle, an enormous waste of credits and a rallying presence for the Rebellion.

meh all males and mostly white guys yeah pretty much what i expected not that some of these guys are not qualified.

but common tarkin, dude is a total failure. I mean seriously major design flaw in a super weapon, should get him knocked out alone

The problem is she appears only in sourcebooks and has no achievements to her name. The same holds true of Admiral Priam, the female Imperial admiral who appears in Boba Fett: Overkill for several frames. We have only ranks, no idea whether their accomplishments were military or political in nature. Obviously there were some skilled female commanders in the Empire and presumably in the Rebellion and they have military records, but we have no detail.

Her established biography indicates that she was promoted at least in part out of nepotism, and that she was appointed to a secure command and didn't see combat. This sort of service relegation was severe enough that she was engaged in a no-holds-barred conspiracy against the Empire she nominally served in order to gain recognition (the Firebird Society). While Corvae was doubtless an extreme example the feature of talented female officers being relegated away from combat was probably quite widespread across the Empire.

On a slightly different note, it's somewhat refreshing that the list is so devoid of Jedi or Sith commanders, with only Revan making the list. Of course that partially reflects Galactic Civil War bias, which is one of the relatively few conflicts in galactic history without large numbers of Jedi or Sith in command roles. Perhaps this is an implicit argument that Force use creates distance between commanders and their troops and actually reduces efficency overall?

No Benegryph Goodvalor? Peh. What a load of Imperial bias.