Never Walk Straight at It: The Art of Flanking
An AI-generated conversation between two old soldiers at a bar, Hank (an American) and Arthur (a Brit), about flanking, the oldest good idea in war. Why cover only works in one direction. Epaminondas stacking his wing fifty men deep at Leuctra in 371 BC. Hannibal's double envelopment at Cannae. Frederick the Great at Leuthen, Stonewall Jackson's twelve-mile march through the Virginia woods at Chancellorsville, the flankless stalemate of the First World War, MacArthur's landing at Inchon, the 1991 left hook, and mouse-holing through Fallujah. Then the practical part, aimed at War Dogs: on a big three-team map, a support player working reconnaissance and medium-to-long range should approach on an angle, flank the fight when the other two teams engage, shoot and scoot, watch his own back, and always keep an escape route.
Ready
Chapters
- 00:00Intro — David on flanking and War Dogs
- 00:36What flanking is: hit them where they are not looking
- 01:46Leuctra, 371 BC: Epaminondas makes one flank a sledgehammer
- 02:15Cannae: Hannibal's double envelopment
- 03:01Leuthen and Napoleon: the old trick returns
- 03:25Chancellorsville: Jackson's twelve-mile march through the woods
- 04:00Dead ground: wilderness flanking and the 1991 left hook
- 04:40World War I: the war with no flank
- 04:59Inchon: flanking them with an ocean
- 05:25The city: flank through the buildings, never the street
- 06:11The drone era: hide your intention, not your body
- 06:59War Dogs: five rules for the support player
- 09:09The fixing force: somebody has to be the noise out front
- 09:51The one-sentence version