Greatest Galactic Tacticians....EVER!

I just read SQ today, and it made a reference to Thrawn being the best tactician/strategist of the End of the Republic / Empire / New Republic / GFFA eras, and one of the best of all time. That got me thinking: who else was on a level with Thrawn? The only real candidate I could come up with would be pre-brain wipe Revan, at least the way they tell it in KotOR. Who else could possibly compete with them?

 

Of course Grand Admiral Zahn, er Thrawn would say that. He is deluded. Thrawn was a nobody.

It's interesting that someone so smart never got anywhere. How tragic. While all the "idiots" were living high on the hog, Thrawn, the "greatest mind in the universe" (reminds me of Barclay on ST) was stuck on some backwater and died before he could really show his stuff.

It's funthe EU is so insignifcant. It's no wonder GL purposely won't put and Zahn character in EPIII.

I'd say Brakiss was on the same level as Thawn + Wannabe = Thrawnnabe. He died in the same useless way, too.

 

As far as running an effective campaign, Palpatine himself is up there. Shadow Hand was massively successful based not on superior tactics or strategy, but by a staggeringy well-planned pre-campaign buildup. Palpatine's battle meditation combined with effective (but costly) wave assaults allowed him to take back enormous swaths of territory.

Admiral Ackbar was one of the best the NR had, and certainly THE best of the pre-Endor years.

The only one I'd place in Ackbar's league from the NR would be Garm Bel Iblis, who ran the defense of Coruscant while Ackbar was under house arrest.

Wedge turned out to be something of a winner in his post-starfighter years, winning more than a few battles of his own. How could anyone forget his successful Emperor's Hammer on Borleias?

 

Lumiya, of course. She had shattered all records set at the Imperial Academy on Coruscant. She was not merely the best the Empire had produced. She was the best of the best which the Empire had ever produced in its history.

 

Thrawn in the EU is matched by none as a space warfare tactician. And de-facto it's unknown, whether Thrawn died or not. That is speculative. SQ's the proof.

I suppose Veers was kinda the best ground tactician of the Empire.

Ackbar is cool, but he's a bit outdated Wedge is made an INHUMANELY super-duper tactician in Stackpole's books. But I am not to judge the author: he made Wedge incredibly smart, which means Wedge is smart...

All the rest are not worthy of mention. Palpatine is not a military tactician. He's a stratege at best. A mere politic, though genious, at worst.

BTW, Thrawn cannot get in the movies because ZAHN himself restricted his character to being in a different place in the time of Episode III.

 

Lumiya has got to be the most uninteresting character, like Durge. She excelled in everything, and he can be cut to pieces and still fly away. Charcters with serious fallacies make for best reading.

There was a Raithal Republic general some time ago, with an important military academy named after her. Possibky someone of note?

On another key, we have precious few names in the SW pantheon because people don't want to invent new characters. We only have the same Ackbar and Thrawn names. Create new characters. Move beyond the movies!

 

Czulkang Lah!


His tactical prowess was so great, it went right through genius and straight back to idiot again!

 

Has to be Wedge. His one-unit tactics the the X-wing books, his tactics and strategies at Thyferra, and like Joruus mentioned his many victories in his post-fighter years, such as when he destroyed the droid-controlled VSDs at Almania. In fact I think Destiny's Way calls him a tactical genius.

 

Wedge's actions in X-wing novels could be called insanely genious, I would say

There's also Garm Bel Iblis, he's good. Although I don't recall someone ever call him a genious.

 

He (Bel Iblis) was regardly as abnormally talented by both the NR and Imps.

We can't really compare Lumiya and Thrawn's training records, given that Thrawn was trained privately.

Incidentally, did Lumiya shatter only the Coruscant Academy records, or all record galaxy wide? (there is Rathial and Carida, after all)

 

Incidentally, did Lumiya shatter only the Coruscant Academy records, or all record galaxy wide? (there is Rathial and Carida, after all)
I think she did some stuff at Carida, like the Bantha squad decimation, but who knows if she beat the records?

And.. I always kinda thought a brilliant tactician is a commander of a force, no matter how small that force may be.. not just a guy who can cope well with his own mind and good in single-action

A guy who can get on with his people. Like Thrawn. Like Janek Sunber.

 

Was T privately trained or at a Chiss Military Academy?

 

Admiral Ackbar, of course.

He was the Supreme Commander of the New Republic Defense Force for nearly 21 years.

Literally he spent his entire career in the top position in the NR military.

For the Empire, I would say Grand Admiral Pellaeon. The "Old Man of the Empire" has the added plus of being experienced in politics- something that he served him well as leader of the IR.

I would also include Wedge and Ble Lblis in my list of great tacticians as well.

--Adm. Nick

 

I would think Wedge is the best starfighter tactician in the SW universe.

Bel Iblis is probably one of the top three, the Yuuzhan Vong Maal Lah (Spelling?) said that the New Republics greatest tactician was Bel Iblis when talking with the former former Warmaster in Rebel Dream.

Pellaeon is another great tactician, both because he served with Grand Admiral Thrawn and because he has been around since before the Clone Wars.

 

In overall strategy Thrawn trumps all (T_F don't even think about it) his campaign would have destroyed the New Repulic (led by Ackbar) if not for a traitor.

In starfighter tactics Wedge was the best while he wasn't as good a pilot as Baron Fel his SF tactics took out targets that usually required cruisers.

In ground vehicle tactics Veers was best. At Hoth Vader pointed at things and told him to blow them up. He came up with the tactics to make it possible.

In fleet tactics again Thrawn. He knew just how and where to deploy capital ships.

In trooper / commando combat it would be either Page or Alpha. Of course we never saw Alpha use most of his plans due to the Jedi saying no but they were brilliant none the less.

 

In overall strategy Thrawn trumps all (T_F don't even think about it).

Why not? Thrawn is the Captain Kirk of SW.

ANd the will of the Force is the thread that runs through all of SW. The Vong are the ones that destroyed the NR, but they still lost. The FORCE trumps all.

 

Bel Iblis and Ackbar might be up there...

 

Jan Dodonna is considered to be one of the premier Starfighter tacticians in the galaxy, particularly in the formative years of the Rebel Alliance. His starfighter tactics were able to score great victories against the Empire even with outdated materials and vehicles, and against numerically and technologically superior foes. He also is the one who was able to find the tiny and incomprehensibly minute flaw in the Death Star plans in less than a day, and then come up with the attack pattern that resulted in its destruction.

Garm Bel Iblis is said to be the only person capable of going head-to-head against Thrawn.

I was playing KOTOR recently, and I was surprised at how much credit is given to Revan for being an expert tactician and strategist. In the game, he is accredited with being the single mind to come up with every winning strategy and battle plan in the Mandalorian War. His mind was completely unbeatable, even by Mandalore himself. During the first stage of the second Sith War, the Republic didn't have a single notable victory until Revan was removed from the equation. The Sith still were the winning side after that event, but the Sith weren't doing nearly as well under Malak, even with their infinite fleets.

 

I should point out that Thrawn must of had a tremendous respect for the skills of Admiral Ackbar.

Remember, a huge part of Thrawns plan was to discredit Ackbar and get him removed from the position of Supreme Commander.

That shows just how much a threat Ackbar was to Thrawn. Thrawn thought it was easier to try and have Ackbar removed than fight his forces in battle.

Ackbar was the best all around commander the NR ever had. His blend of tactical skills and strategic planning made him the top NR military officer for over two decades.

And, remember the reaction of the NR forces in NJO: Destiny's Way when they heard the following message-

Ackbar is back.

As the book said, on some warships the cheering went on for hours.

--Adm. Nick

 

I wonder how many people got stoned because of that...

 

"Stoned" as in "brutal execution of an adulterous woman during biblical times" or "stoned" as in "smoking marijuana at a Led Zeppelin concert"?

 

Well, There was Jan Dodoann, his buddy Tallon and the 'Gray Cadre'.

Ackbar certainly ranks up there. I'd say he's the 'Eisenhower' of the NR. He's had his ups and downs.

Bel Iblis is also highly talented. Call him 'Patton'.

And to round out the WWII comparsions, Thrawn's defintely the Desert Fox 'Rommel'.

I think Ackbar might have had the best chance to best Thrawn. I'm not sure Bel Iblis could have, or if he had, without a higher cost in machines and personnel than Ackbar.

To sum up: Ackbar, then Thrawn, than, Bel Iblis. I'm not so sure where to put Palpy and El Clono, but they defintiely have a gift for playing the long game.

 

Tiershon,

Thrawn never got anywhere? [boggles]

We aren't talking about Ensign Thrawn or Lieutenant Thrawn. We're talking about Grand Admiral Thrawn. He climbed as far as one could in the Imperial armed forces.

Thrawn never got anywhere because he didn't conquer the galaxy?

 

Has anyone thought of picking out Mandalore himself, from what I have read he was a brilliant tactician. I also have to say Thrawn was one of the most amazing commanders in the EU. As Lank said he is the Rommel of the Star Wars galaxy. Pellaeon was also a well versed tactician, after serving under Thrawn his skills became quite superb.

 

Strategic:
1. Thrawn
2. Ackbar
3. Revan

Tactical:
1. Vader
2. Wedge
3. Veers