Dwarves...and gunpowder

[Dannyalcatraz]

Saw some video from the celebration of the martyrdom of San Juan de la Vega.

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

For some reason, my mind instantly said "Dwarven Suicide Sappers!" Armed with mauls w/charges strapped to them, they charge into the tunnels...willing to use the charges to bring down the earth upon their very heads to save their people...

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Saw some video from the celebration of the martyrdom of San Juan de la Vega.

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

For some reason, my mind instantly said "Dwarven Suicide Sappers!" Armed with mauls w/charges strapped to them, they charge into the tunnels...willing to use the charges to bring down the earth upon their very heads to save their people...

Heh, anyone remember the Mostali bowling bombers in RuneQuest?

The Auld Grump

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Warcraft II had dwarven sappers who did exactly that, and a Warcraft III expansion campaign (the downloaded orc one) had goblin sappers that you could recruit for exactly that purpose. (In fact, I think you had to use them.)

 

[Glade Riven]

MORTAAARR COMBAAAAT!!

Sorry, couldn't resist. Iron Kingdoms has dwarves with guns, too..but just about everybody has guns in that setting.

 

[Cyronax]

Thank Odin there is no real world equivalent of this behavior.

 

[Glade Riven]

Sure there is - fortunatly, the suicide bomber isn't that common and the desperate tactics of the kamikaze during WWII are not strategically effective in the long run.

 

[Cyronax]

Sure there is - fortunatly, the suicide bomber isn't that common and the desperate tactics of the kamikaze during WWII are not strategically effective in the long run.

Too bad al Qaeda doesn't agree. (I was being facetious earlier).

 

[NewJeffCT]

Saw some video from the celebration of the martyrdom of San Juan de la Vega.

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.

For some reason, my mind instantly said "Dwarven Suicide Sappers!" Armed with mauls w/charges strapped to them, they charge into the tunnels...willing to use the charges to bring down the earth upon their very heads to save their people...

Sounds intriguing, but in the gaming worlds I've played in, dwarves aren't really numerous enough to recruit suicide bombers. I can see well prepared dwarves having ways to blow up tunnels/passageways, but usually on the heads of goblins/orcs or whatever threat is attacking their stronghold. And, I can certainly see a dwarf volunteering to sacrifice itself to set off the bomb if the charge initially failed to go off.

OTOH, I can see goblins having suicide bombers, as they have the numbers for it.

 

[kitsune9]

I clicked on the link and was taken to the main page of YouTube. Do you have the exact link?

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

and the desperate tactics of the kamikaze during WWII are not strategically effective in the long run.

From what I've read, it was a desperation tactic after a tied battle. The Americans lucked out afterward and found the Japanese carriers. The attacks destroyed their planes but more importantly killed their experienced pilots.

Landing on a carrier deck is a time-consuming training technique; one "brilliant" admiral decided to skip that step and just train pilots to take off and turn en masse.