History Main / HitAndRunTactics

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** On ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', the Klingons use these tactics several times against the Dominion. Sisko compares it to an old Earth "cavalry raid".
** The titular CoolStarship of ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' is equipped with an experimental "spore drive" that allows her to instantly jump anywhere in known space. This is often utilized by launching a HyperspeedAmbush against the Klingons, followed quickly by a HyperspeedEscape.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'', the character Sombra has a translocater that she places where she which to be later. She then makes herself invincible, runs off reveals herself and starts to shoot at an opponent and when injured, she can press "E" to return to the position where she dropped her translocater.

*** [[Film/LordOfTheRings So the closer you are to danger, the farther you are from harm?]]

* UsefulNotes/MaoZedong, who literally wrote a textbook on guerrilla warfare, summarizes the tactics as:

* During the UsefulNotes/LusitanianWars, the chieftain Viriathus favored the tactic called ''concursare'' by the Romans: he would order his warriors to charge in a disorganized mass, then stop abruptly before clashing lines with the Roman legions, and then turn their backs and retreat, all while shouting taunts and throwing javelins and sling stones at them. Through this method, which sometimes needed several iterations to make an effect, they got the disciplined Roman infuriated and prone to break formation in the process of chasing them, which eliminated their main advantage and allowed the Lusitanians to lead them to ambushes in unfavorable terrains.

* There are Mixed Martial Artists who use this. Diego Nunes, for example. Kick and move, kick and move.

* UsefulNotes/MaoZedong, who literally wrote the textbook on guerrilla warfare, summarizes the tactics as:

* A variation of this is to use conventional forces as the foundation or rallying point of a pro-insurgency campaign. In this the conventional army forces it's enemies to keep together lest it be defeated in detail while partisans harass logistics, dominate no-mans-land, and are able to do so with impunity because their enemies cannot disperse to pursue them. Examples of this synergy was UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution and the [[UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars Peninsular War]]. In both cases it was brought about the natural and political environment of the war rather than being deliberately set up by any one general.

* Much of what we call "guerrilla" and "conventional" warfare is a misnomer. "Guerrilla" warfare and its cousins (espionage, vendetta, raiding, scouting, and for that matter crime vs law enforcement) are the normal way for humans to fight. So normal, in fact, that it is perhaps best to reserve the term "guerrilla" to a coordinated strategy involving HitAndRunTactics, rather than the tactics themselves which are something known to all times and places. What we call "conventional" war is actually the abnormal kind and refers to strategy directed at the enemy's forces, territory or most vital infrastructure and designed to strike sharp rather than incremental blows; it is risky even for major states, and impossible for smaller organizations. The only reasons it is called "conventional" are probably that (a) it fits the RuleOfDrama and (b) it requires lots of personnel, so most soldiers and officers writing memoirs will be engaged in it. Any given state will only be engaged in "conventional" war about once a generation at most, but will be involved in HitAndRunTactics constantly.

* The use of skirmishers would completely change Greek warfare - prior to the proven use, battles were centered on the heavily-armored, spear-and-large-shielded hoplite in a dense and deep rectangular formation, where both sides' hoplite would meet and push against one another until one formation broke to flee and concede the battle. Skirmishers would easily whittle down the hoplite from afar while being lightly-armored to allow them to run back a bit as the hoplite attempted to approach them (slowly) until the hoplite all died or broke ranks and fled themselves, paving the way for more combined-arms warfare in Greece.

* In ''Manga/PokemonSpecial'', the Sinnoh Gym Leaders employ this when fighting the Galactic admins. Whenever one of their Pokemon was close to fainting, Byron would pop it underground, give it a Potion, then pop it back out so it could continue fighting.

* This is the favorite tactic of [[{{LightNovel/Slayers}} Xellos]], combining moderately-damaging attack and TeleportSpam. Usually reserved for a slow death / nonlethal takedowns, he has bigger attacks in reserve, should the need arise.

* On ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'', the Klingons use these tactics several times against the Dominion.

* TheBritishEmpire also often used this on a strategic level. Britain's population was much smaller than that of its continental rivals, but with its vast financial resources, dominant navy and extensive contacts with allies and vassals abroad, Britain punched well above its weight. Standard procedure in a war was to bankroll a continental ally who ''did'' possess the raw manpower to fight their battles, while at the same time using the Royal Navy to seize overseas colonial possessions and then prevent recapture; these possessions were often valuable bargaining chips at the PeaceConference. UsefulNotes/WorldWarII demonstrated the drawbacks of this approach: when France fell in 1940, Britain lost its biggest continental ally and was forced to face Germany and Italy alone, which reduced Britain to essentially surviving and annoying the Nazis while seeking support from other powers, chiefly the United States; and when Japan entered the war, things went FromBadToWorse because now Britain's own overseas assets became liabilities and the Royal Navy could not compete with Japan's own Imperial Navy.

* ''RedFaction:Guerrilla'', as the name implies, heavily encourages this. In fact, some structures and bases are nearly impossible to take down without using such tactics, as unless you're using [[HumongousMecha a Walker]], the EDF '''will''' swarm you and gun you down with ease, even with the best weapons and armor, and given [[StuffBlowingUp the nature of this game]], cover never lasts long.

* Every modern fighting service has used [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hit-and-run_tactics variations of this tactic]] since before the Byzantine Empire, making this OlderThanFeudalism. Even tanks and artillery [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoot_and_scoot do it]].
** You could even argue that the famous [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_Peel Center Peel]] is a hit-and-run tactic.

* The concept of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoot-and-scoot Shoot-and-scoot tactics]] is a form of this. Field artillery are the military equivalent of a SquishyWizard, able to deal out massive damage from a long range but unable to resist a determined counterattack. It's made even worse by the use of rocket weapons, which not only give visible smoke trails but require a longer time to reload than gun artillery. Therefore, standard tactics are to fire, then immediately leave the area before the enemy can determine your position, then fire again, and repeat as needed.

** The Spathi Eluder is among the fastest ships in the game, with a rearward-firing guided missile weapon that is tailor made for this sort of tactic.

** Lampshaded in the game:
--> '''Spathi captain''': "Our ships are made for a single purpose: RUNNING AWAY! And if something decides to run after us, we launch volleys of missiles with our B.U.T.T. technology!"

* On the highest difficulty, this is possibly your best bet in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion''. Screw the heavy armour and sword, normal clothes, a bow and high speed and athletics stat are your best bet for survival. Oh, and spells, for the mages out there. Of course, you then have to worry about archers and spell casters, but its better than certain death at the hands of overpowering melee opponents.
** Melee attack patterns are so hilariously predictable in Oblivion though that it is entirely plausible (moreso than Fallout 3 even) to just backstep all the opponent's attacks and get your own in between them. And even if you decide to keep it ranged, On Target Spells aren't subject to gravity.

*** Ilmari Juutilainen, 94-kill [[UsefulNotes/FinnsWithFearfulForests Finnish Air Force]] ace, described aerial combat as: ''Fighting six to eight enemies simultaneously is the most difficult. If there is one to four enemies, you can engage them in a dogfight and use superior flying and fighting skills. If there are six to eight, it becomes impossible to keep track of them simultaneously. But if there are twenty to one hundred enemies, it becomes easy. Just attack either from altitude or from below at dead angle, use the speed and momentum, surprise them and scatter their formation. You can pick one or two at will, and then zoom up or dive out. This is the idea of pendulum tactics. Repeat until the enemy jettisons the bombs and flees.

* Genghis Khan was also a fan of this one. His feigned retreat, combined with this trope, was the bane of eastern european knights when he arrived in Europe.

** This was actually tried with pistols. It never worked out as the pistols of the time were too unreliable as compared with horse archers.

** A favored tactic on the tabletop for the Eldar in days of yore when they could move, shoot, then move again, making a return to the table in their newest rulebook. Also their primary strategy in the spin-off game BattlefleetGothic.

* In Palladium Books' ''{{Anime/Robotech}}'' TabletopRPG 'verse a machine gun has to do 100 HP of damage (in a single burst, which is all but impossible) to a HumongousMecha before it counts, so people with ordinary weapons can't use this strategy against heavy armor. However, you can use this strategy with land mines vs HumongousMecha or HumongousMecha vs naval or space craft.

* These sort of tactics are recommended for lightly-armored characters in the ''TwistedMetal'' series when fighting a more heavily armored opponent.

* In ''PokemonSpecial'', the Sinnoh Gym Leaders employ this when fighting the Galactic admins. Whenever one of their Pokemon was close to fainting, Byron would pop it underground, give it a Potion, then pop it back out so it could continue fighting.