Yes, I was stalling. Hey, I have to live with my niece! Besides, she needed time to calm.
Tacticians:
1. Honor Harrington.
1. Esther McQueen.
2. Alfredo Yu. He was Theisman's mentor as much as Courvosier was Honor's. Difference is, Yu was still commanding ships and remained sharp. He essentially becomes Honor's right-hand man, after she learns to trust him. Honor had no qualms about his tactical abilities either, and trusted them. In fact, on a few occasions, Honor and Alfredo played "tactical classroom" with each other.
3. Theisman. Because he was mentored by Yu. Theisman showed a bit of that tactical acumen at Blackbird.
4. Theodosia Kuzak. IMO, inside of Theodosia was a great tactical thinker. It was fitting that she died aboard HMS King Roger III.
5. Lester Tourville.
6. *Shannon Foraker.
7. Hamish Alexander. I'm putting Hamish low on the list because he just didn't show me more of a grasp of tactics than the others that precede him on the list. He always seemed to have half of the RMN's available forces at his disposal, so he won by overwhelming force and superior tech, not by wiles and guiles. (Okay, I stretch the truth a little to make a point. But, thought stands.) He does show a higher propensity for strategy though, which I agree is odd. Although, I do not think that tactical and strategic ability necessarily go hand in hand.
8. Sonja Hemphill. I pondered over where to place Sonja after my split personality told my stable persona that she belongs. I simply have a feeling that she does... indeed belong in the top ten, and the Fleet games support my theory. What bears closer consideration is her style of tactics, witnessed by her peers as being "the head-on confrontational type," IIRC. Hers wasn't necessarily thought of to be the best type of tactics, but I intuit it as a better "feel" for her hardware. After all, that was part of the hallmarks of the second school of tactical thought in which she led called the jeune ecole.
9. Sebastian D'Orville. He was CO of Home Fleet. I don't imagine he was honored to wear that hat if he hadn't displayed tactical, and I would imagine strategic, acumen.
10. Abigail Hearns. I simply must place Abigail on this list as an alternate. She has shown too much tactical ability to be denied. Besides, I must consider her mentor. Do we really want to discount the Salamander's best student?
****** *
*I believe that Shannon Foraker could have become the RHN's counterpart to the Salamander, had she been given command. She had the same tactical eye and sixth-sense and redefined and raised the bar as tac-witch extraordinaire - with inferior hardware. I think she exhibited a tactical edge over many, and if this was a contest of "raw" ability, I'd be inclined to place her in the top two. It almost requires a bit more intestinal fortitude than I possess not to do so anyways.
I think Shannon, as Tourville and Caslet's tac-witch, was the wind beneath their wings. At least the polish on their shoes. She was to Tourville as Spock was to Kirk. Kirk was as good only because Spock was always there to take his bacon out of the pan before it was burnt. So to, a similar comparison of Shannon to both Tourville and Caslet.
McQueen, I have placed in a tie with Honor, with perhaps a slight edge to the Salamander because of her uncanny sixth sense. I maintain that had she lived and somehow been present for Operation Beatrice, that Honor could have been killed. McQueen stood so close behind Honor as a tactician that she could smell her choice of shampoo. They both were also superior strategists.
Cthia: Pasted from post #78 in OpForce against OpForce thread.
I wasn't so much as harping on McQueen's presence as seriously altering the absolute outcome, inasmuch as the championing of the Salamander's defeat at the hands of McQueen - which leads to the defeat of Manticore. Because I still maintain that if anyone could have defeated Honor, then she was the she. No, what I mainly propose, is that if McQueen had been present, RFC could have picked that moment to kill off the Salamander.
The way I see it, because of McQueen's superior wiles and cunning, that she would have been in Tourville's position and not have made his mistake. She'd have smelled something amiss and outwaited the Salamander, thus trapping her. Honor would have been killed, had McQueen been present. That being the case, the Manticoran Home system would have fallen. IMHO.
And that's what I'm selling.
Do take note that the RHN almost dominates my top five spots and it is interesting that, IMO, the series interestingly portray the exact same thing. The RHN was more tactically adept, just had inferior ships, tech, and in certain cases of Trevor's Star, position.
