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What the title says. Who are your Top 5 most impressive military tacticians in the mythos? Mine would include, in no order

-Thrawn
-Revan
-Grievous
-Boba Fett
-Palpatine

Honourable mentions: Maul, Jango Fett, Tor Vizsla, Mandalore the Ultimate (maybe), Anakin Skywalker, Tarkin, Yoda, probably more I'm forgetting.

Sexy list, I would add Obi-wan too.

Indeed. Plo Koon and Sassae Tiin were great at commanding space battles, too.

1.Thrawn
2.Pallaeon
3.Bwua'tu
4.Vader
5.Ackbar

Ahsoka used a tactical strategies in that Ryloth arc that completly annihilated a whole Separatist fleet. Same strategy Thrawn later used.

Just saying.

Thrawn, Revan, and Ackbar are probably the best.

Mith'raw'nurodo
Revan
Vader
Grievous
Admiral Akbar (he is great at spotting traps)

Thrawn
Revan
Gar Stazi, of course.
Ackbar
And... I'll toss in Grievous too, he did do a good job of dragging the war out despite having a much smaller size and mere droids, and made the audacious moves.

Really, it's hard to think of a 5th ^^

But I will note knowing when to retreat is often a sign of a good tactician, not a bad one. "Preserve your forces, harass the other side without losing too much of your military, and let other pressures make things hard on the opposition," is a strategy that smaller powers often need to follow to win. And he did pull off stuff like the attack on Coruscant, getting past the defense fleets and shields.

Thrawn
Revan
Sev'rance Tann
Grievous
Ackbar

Originally posted by Q99
Thrawn
Revan
Gar Stazi, of course.
Ackbar
And... I'll toss in Grievous too, he did do a good job of dragging the war out despite having a much smaller size and mere droids, and made the audacious moves. Didn't the CIS droid army number in the sextillions?

Originally posted by Tzeentch
Didn't the CIS droid army number in the sextillions?

Quadrillions actually and as I recall reading somewhere, the entirety of the CIS was held back tremendously so that they wouldn't have stomped the Republic through sheer numbers.

Although for the life of me I can't remember the source...I recall reading it somewhere though....unless I was imagining it, but pretty sure I wasn't. Although this would make sense, seeing as Palps was pulling strings on both sides.

Thrawn, Revan, Grievous, etc.

Revan
Mandalore the ultimate.
Thrawn
Palpatine
Ggrievous.
Boba fett.
This a top 6 but that dosen't matter...

Originally posted by Revanchiste
This a top 6 but that dosen't matter... You ruin everything

In no specific order, gar stazi, thrawn, revan, ackbar, and Boba fett

Man, lots of love for Ackbar. You know you're a great tactician when you can identify a trap after it's sprung.

Lmao

.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.

Lol at Tarkin and akbar being above Thrawn

If Revan had control over the Star Forge for good, and killed Malak. He'd have the most unstoppable army in the History of the SW Universe.

Yep.
http://i39.servimg.com/u/f39/17/73/92/12/darth_10.jpg

Interesting that it implies Revan began his war with the Republic before he located the Star Forge.

Indeed. It's almost as if they never played the game, given the caption of Revan is the combination of numerous mods (Darth Malak reskin, Darth Revan armor, and light-saber blade color options).

Originally posted by Tzeentch
Didn't the CIS droid army number in the sextillions?


Sure, they exist in *number that is effectively meaningless due to writers not having a good sense of scale*, and the Republic only had *number that is effectively meaningless due to writers not having a good sense of scale*, but it is pretty clear how as the war progresses, the Republic has superior resources.


And even if they had a ton of droids, ships are in relatively shorter supply.


Originally posted by NewGuy01
Man, lots of love for Ackbar. You know you're a great tactician when you can identify a trap after it's sprung.

Yea, still, he was one of the only opponents able to give Thrawn issue.

If Grievous is getting some mentions, Anakin should, too.

Originally posted by Dionysus
If Grievous is getting some mentions, Anakin should, too. I would put Grievous above Anakin but I agree, Anakin had his moments. Anakin seems to have a natural knack for war-tactics, like he just thinks outside the box and somehow pulls it off.

Originally posted by Dionysus
If Grievous is getting some mentions, Anakin should, too.

What military has he lead, really? Only Hoth comes to mind, and there he didn't do the military planning.

Originally posted by Dionysus
If Grievous is getting some mentions, Anakin should, too.

Examples of military brilliance from my homeboy Anakin?

Well, he completely decimated Grievous' fleet at the Battle of Bothawui. I'd need to scavenge some more but that's a pretty prominent one that deserves some more recognition imo.

The Battle of Bothawui. He humiliates Grievous there.

Edit: Ninja'd

Yep.

Two I remember off the top of my head for Anakin are in TCW and Labyrinth of Evil. In TCW Anakin devised a bunch of risky on-the-fly plans which in the end prevented Grievous from destroying a medical station with an ion cannon. Can't remember the one from Labyrinth of Evil but Anakin did something where he distracted Malevolence's guns by going around in circles peppering at the shields which aided the overall mission somehow.. I dunno, maybe someone else will remember it better.

Basically, as I see it, there's a short list of people celebrated for their military genius- Thrawn, Gar Stazi, Revan (of which we see the first two pull repeated brilliant moves on page, Revan offscreen but has enough accomplishments we can buy it). Besides from that, we have a bunch of military commanders where it's much more a judgement call.

How come Palpatine is nowhere to be seen? He was damn well brilliant to say the least. Creating AI human beings to secretely serve him as he sees fit, which caused the downfall of the Jedi Order. He was manipulative, and very good at it as well, twisting Queen Amidala's thinking as well. Using Anakin's guilt as a ploy to turn him to the Dark Side, and using him as a weapon.

Originally posted by Jmanghan
How come Palpatine is nowhere to be seen? He was damn well brilliant to say the least. Creating AI human beings to secretely serve him as he sees fit, which caused the downfall of the Jedi Order. He was manipulative, and very good at it as well, twisting Queen Amidala's thinking as well. Using Anakin's guilt as a ploy to turn him to the Dark Side, and using him as a weapon.


Because that's not military tactics.

Now, political planning, manipulation, etc.? That he's grade A+ in, but he's not the one moving forces around on the battlefield, he has people for that.

Yeah, you'll note there's a reason I didn't pop in here and mention Bane. It's because Bane didn't really command forces on the battlefield.

Same could be said for Palpatine.

To be honest if Palpatine was capable of leading a military he wouldn't have gone looking for Grievous.

Originally posted by Emperordmb
Yeah, you'll note there's a reason I didn't pop in here and mention Bane. It's because Bane didn't really command forces on the battlefield.

Indeed, very much not his thing.


Similarly Krayt. Krayt lead his order, but for military, he had his Fist, Nihl or Stryfe, or other high rank Sith like Azard, handle the military end. Hett did do some commanding as a Jedi general, but once he became Sith he, like Palpatine, delegated that to others.

Originally posted by ILS
To be honest if Palpatine was capable of leading a military he wouldn't have gone looking for Grievous.

Nah.

Originally posted by Q99
Because that's not military tactics.

Now, political planning, manipulation, etc.? That he's grade A+ in, but he's not the one moving forces around on the battlefield, he has people for that.

If by "grade A+" you mean "literally far and away the greatest political strategist in the Star Wars franchise," yes.



lol





Palps couldn't very well directly command the day-to-day Separatist military operations for obvious reasons, even if he were capable.

Anyway, we have no evidence of Palpatine's skills as a military tactician. He deferred that station to others. That said, as a strategist, he shows extreme competence even in military respects as the author of Operation Shadow Hand in Dark Empire that was extraordinarily successful.

Originally posted by The_Tempest

Anyway, we have no evidence of Palpatine's skills as a military tactician. He deferred that station to others. That said, as a strategist, he shows extreme competence even in military respects as the author of Operation Shadow Hand in Dark Empire that was extraordinarily successful.

Though even there, he had Luke, Sedriss, and finally Xecr Nist executing a lot of the nuts and bolts.


Plus he had an overreliance on superweapons, which tended to bite him when they blew up. Especially if he was on them when they blew up.

Originally posted by Q99
Though even there, he had Luke, Sedriss, and finally Xecr Nist executing a lot of the nuts and bolts.

That's the difference between tactical and strategic spheres. It's also the difference between commanding and being commanded. Every military leader has subordinates "executing a lot of the nuts and bolts."

Originally posted by Q99
Plus he had an overreliance on superweapons, which tended to bite him when they blew up. Especially if he was on them when they blew up.

Your point?

Originally posted by The_Tempest

Your point?

It's a tactical error.

Originally posted by Q99
It's a tactical error.

I'd like to add Wedge Antilles and Tycho Gelchu

Bump

Thrawn, Revan, Bel-Ilbis, Ackbar, Tarkin
Honorable mentions: Grievous, Anakin, Gar Stazi, Boba Fett, Vader, Jagged Fel...
Not including Palpatine