This misses the one case where it's Truth in Television — when the person is using an exotic weapon simply because back where they come from, it's the locals' weapons that would be considered exotic, or the weapon is exotic because it's newly-introduced and has not had time to spread far. This actually has resulted in some victories, simply because the other side has no idea what to do about this newfangled (to them, at least) weapon.
This has been effective both in mass battle — perhaps most bloodily demonstrated in the American Civil War and WWI by the encounter of the weapons of modern warfare against the tactics perfected during the Napoleonic era (Zerg Rushes against machine guns?) — and in smaller scale situations. 'Being left-handed' can be a surprising good advantage against people used to facing right-handed people, and whose reactions are geared for this.
Anybody want to take a shot at adding this in smoothly, though, if it belongs in the trope description?
This misses the one case where it's Truth in Television — when the person is using an exotic weapon simply because back where they come from, it's the locals' weapons that would be considered exotic, or the weapon is exotic because it's newly-introduced and has not had time to spread far. This actually has resulted in some victories, simply because the other side has no idea what to do about this newfangled (to them, at least) weapon.
This has been effective both in mass battle — perhaps most bloodily demonstrated in the American Civil War and WWI by the encounter of the weapons of modern warfare against the tactics perfected during the Napoleonic era (Zerg Rushes against machine guns?) — and in smaller scale situations. 'Being left-handed' can be a surprising good advantage against people used to facing right-handed people, and whose reactions are geared for this.
Anybody want to take a shot at adding this in smoothly, though, if it belongs in the trope description?
Edited by AnoSa