Benedict of Amber vs. Thrawn

Hendrake · Post by **Hendrake** » 2002-09-12 08:59am

I had to ask this sooner or later.

Assume a force equal to a SW sector group for both, with equally capable troops and crews. The goal is to capture and mantain a planet, intact. Thrawn has no backup from the Empire and Benedict can't use Shadow to gather resources.

Thrawn: I think he doesn't need presentations. He has a number of information regarding Benedict, including history of battles, art preferences and family situation.

Benedict: The ultimate warrior and master strategist of the House of Amber. His skills at single combat, tactic and strategy are considered unmatchable. He has spent at least 2000 years practising strategy and combat. Assume he has gained familiarity with his troops and has informations about Thrawn's past battles, but can not use Trumps or Pattern to gain troops or "cheat".

Who would win?

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2002-09-12 09:06am

Hmm I think the planet would be ignore to cap the enemy Commander's ship, If Thrawn IS outmatched(Never happend to this point) I would do my best to make that person suck vacume as soon as possible. Also both are unfaimlar with the other but if they both most take a planet the best way would be to take out the troop transports, if they each know a little bit about the other I'm guesing Bendict will go for the planet and Thrawn for Bendict, Sacficing an ISD to take out the Command ship is not above him

Hendrake · Post by **Hendrake** » 2002-09-12 01:15pm

Well, I'm not saying Thrawn is outmatched. Benny is outstanding, but so is Thrawn, and he is more familiar with the SW technology, so he could pull some nasty tricks.

Getting the ship might work, but an attcack to what is presumebly the heart of the enemy forces would leave Thrawn weakened. It is a risky gamble, and the battle might give time to Benny's troops to set up a planetary shield, which Thrawn hasn't the firepower to overwhelm (I assume a planetary shield comes with a sector group supplies).

Post by **Mr Bean** » 2002-09-12 01:44pm

The parts are carried by every ISD however they take a week or longer to set up per shield and those are theater shields

LordChaos · Post by **LordChaos** » 2002-09-12 04:39pm

It's not even a close match.

Compared to Benidict, Thrawn is a child playing in a sandbox. If you take the canon for each respective universe, there is NO ONE who is a match for Benidict He is, simpley, the best, end of sentence.

Considering the respective abilities of each, if Thrawn had a peice of Benidict's art, Thrawn would surrender before the battle even started, because he would know he wouldn't even stand a chance. Even with numbers on his side, Thrawn would be facing long odds of winning.

Thrawn may be good, but canonicaly, there is no one close to Benidict.

Hendrake · Post by **Hendrake** » 2002-09-12 06:45pm

Mr Bean wrote:The parts are carried by every ISD however they take a week or longer to set up per shield and those are theater shields

Sorry, my bad. Still, a blockade would be effective, I think.

LordChaos wrote:It's not even a close match.

Compared to Benidict, Thrawn is a child playing in a sandbox. If you take the canon for each respective universe, there is NO ONE who is a match for Benidict He is, simpley, the best, end of sentence.

Considering the respective abilities of each, if Thrawn had a peice of Benidict's art, Thrawn would surrender before the battle even started, because he would know he wouldn't even stand a chance. Even with numbers on his side, Thrawn would be facing long odds of winning.

Thrawn may be good, but canonicaly, there is no one close to Benidict.

You are probably right. By Amber canon Benedict seems to be unstoppable, but he might be tricked (see the Hellmaid Lintra thing which cost him an arm, or how Dara and Oberon got him thinking Corwin murdered his retainers) and his warfare experiences tend to be more about ground battles then space. He can beat Thrawn any day in a fair fight, but I believe Thrawn might pull tricks even to him. He'll probably still lose, but Benny gets a bloody nose.

Post by **weemadando** » 2002-09-12 09:09pm

I don't think that people realise that Benedict is the ultimate strategic and tactical genius. In battle he cannot be defeated byt anything less than vastly superior forces commanded by a legendary leader. Thrawn would qualify for that position, but you have to assume that Benedict would have forces equal to Thrawns.

Also, if and when it looked like going badly he would quite happily be able to shift shadow to a more favourable outcome.