Tactical Tuesday: Know Your Enemy
Brigands, Marauders, Guerrillas, and Raiders
Pulp-Military Encounter Scenario:
Alright, listen up, rookie. You’re running a military campaign, and your players just walked into the wrong stretch of nowhere. They’re not up against an orderly line of enemy troops, but the dirty underbelly of warfare—the shadows of the battlefield. Brigands, marauders, guerrillas, and raiders. They’re not the same breed, so don’t treat ‘em like they are. If you do, your TTRPG loses its edge, and worse, your players won’t respect the danger they bring. You’ve gotta know who they are, what they want, and how to use ‘em if you’re gonna make their lives hell.
Brigands
The Bottom Feeders
Goals
Brigands are simple creatures with simple goals—money, food, shiny things. They don’t care much for glory or ideology, just cold, hard loot. You’ll find these scavengers swarming wherever civilization has been gutted by war, famine, or neglect.
Resources
These guys are working with the leftovers—rusty blades, patchwork armor, maybe an old bow with frayed string. They’ve got no supply lines and no backup. Everything they own comes from someone they’ve robbed or killed.
Training and Size
Training? That’s rich. We’re talking minimal skills, maybe a former soldier or two who fell into this life because they were too dumb or desperate for anything better. Numbers vary. Could be a small crew of five or six huddling in the woods, or an unruly gang of 20 snarling lowlifes.
Habits
They’re opportunists. They hit weak, isolated targets—merchant caravans, poorly guarded farms, lone travelers. They usually don’t pick fights they can’t win, but a little taste of blood can go to their heads.
Leadership Structure
“Leadership” is being generous. Usually, it’s the meanest, loudest thug who calls the shots, backed by a mix of fear and curses. There’s no loyalty here; if the leader falls, the rest scatter like rats in daylight.
Vulnerabilities
Scare ‘em, and they break. Cut off their escape, and they panic. Brigands are cowards at heart, and they’re vulnerable to anything that puts them out of their comfort zone. A show of strength is usually enough to send them running.
Use in TTRPGs
Brigands make great early-game enemies—weak enough for your party to clobber, but dangerous enough to keep things tense. They’re also good at setting the stage for moral dilemmas—farmers-turned-bandits can leave your players questioning who the real villains are.
Marauders
Chaos Incarnate
Goals
Marauders are war’s aftermath brought to life. Their goal? Destruction for destruction’s sake. These scavengers thrive on carnage, looting burned villages and spreading terror wherever they go. It’s not just about the loot for them—it’s about domination and fear.
Resources
A step up from brigands, marauders have scavenged better gear. They’ve got weapons looted from battlefields, some captured mounts, and maybe the odd siege weapon they barely know how to use.
Training and Size
More experience than brigands—marauders are often made up of deserters, disgraced mercenaries, or angry peasants forced to the edge. A marauding group can range from 15 loosely organized killers to a horde of 100.
Habits
They don’t skulk in the shadows. Marauders burn, pillage, and leave their mark for all to see. They move fast and hit hard, taking what they want before vanishing into the wilderness or mountains.
Leadership Structure
Marauders have leaders who rule through brute force and charisma. These are folks with a cruel magnetism—charismatic killers who can whip desperate people into a frenzy. They’re often former officers who went rogue after losing faith in their empire or king.
Vulnerabilities
Their strength is in their numbers and speed—but that also makes them hard to manage. Isolate their smaller groups, wear them down over time, or target their leader—without him, their cohesion falls apart fast.
Use in TTRPGs
Marauders shine as mid-game adversaries. They’re mobile, unpredictable, and terrifying in action. Use them to devastate player allies or villages, forcing your party into tough choices. Do they protect themselves, or risk it all defending the helpless?
Guerrillas
The Ghosts of the Battlefield
Goals
Guerrillas are fighting for something more than themselves. Nationalism, freedom, revenge—it doesn’t matter. What does matter is that they play the long game. Guerrillas are here to outlast the enemy, bleeding them slowly until victory is inevitable.
Resources
Improvised weapons, traps, and whatever they can loot or charm from sympathetic neighbors. If they’ve got external backing, they might even wield decent military-grade weapons. Supply lines are thin at best because they rely on secrecy and mobility.
Training and Size
Their training is hit-or-miss, depending on the people involved. Some guerrillas are hardened ex-soldiers, while others are farmers with pitchforks. Their numbers are small by necessity—10 to 50 operatives per cell.
Habits
Guerrillas specialize in ambushes, sabotage, and hit-and-run tactics. They know the terrain better than anyone, blending into the local population when necessary. Every burned bridge or broken wagon is part of their master plan to chip away at the enemy’s strength.
Leadership Structure
These folks have a hierarchy, sure, but it’s decentralized. Leaders of individual cells act independently, taking broad orders when they can get them. Cut off the head, and the body still writhes. They rely on trusted locals and informants to maintain support.
Vulnerabilities
Guerrillas live or die by the will of the people. If their support network crumbles, so do they. Starve ‘em of resources and cover. Forces advanced enough to deploy intelligence-gathering magic or tech? That’s a death sentence.
Use in TTRPGs
If you want a campaign filled with spycraft, paranoia, and moral ambiguity, guerrillas are your ticket. Your players might fight them—or maybe become them. Either way, guerrilla forces offer a slow-burn challenge where victory isn’t always measured by body count.
Raiders
Pure Predators
Goals
Raiders are the wolves of war. They don’t want your land, your peasants, or your loyalty. They want the spoils—treasures, hostages, and supplies. For them, war is a business, and business is booming.
Resources
Raiders are equipped for one thing only—efficiency. From longships to warbeasts, they focus on fast, devastating raids. Their weapons are brutal and practical, crafted for quick, bloody attacks and a hasty retreat.
Training and Size
Highly skilled in combat, these guys are no amateurs. Raiders often serve under seasoned chiefs, and their numbers range from tightly disciplined warbands of 30 to entire fleets numbering in the hundreds. They’re swift, calculated, and deadly.
Habits
They strike without warning, leaving towns and forts in flames before anyone can rally a defense. They target weak, isolated areas like coastal villages or border towns. If they don’t have an escape route, they don’t attack.
Leadership Structure
Raiders are highly organized under strong leaders—chiefs, warlords, or captains—who command loyalty through strength, greed, and shared survival. These leaders are experienced tacticians who plan every move.
Vulnerabilities
Timing is everything to a raider. Ambush them before they launch their attack, and they crumble. Deny them escape routes or keep their ships from returning to sea, and their morale plummets. Hit them where it hurts—their supplies and stolen goods.
Use in TTRPGs
Raiders make excellent recurring villains. They’re tough, smart, and relentless—a force of nature your players have to outwit rather than outfight. Their attacks can spark cycles of revenge, drawing your players into a grim spiral of war and bloodshed.
Final Thoughts
You’ve got your options now, soldier. Brigands, marauders, guerrillas, and raiders aren’t interchangeable threats—they’re distinct challenges, each with their own flavor of warfare. Use them wisely in your campaign, tailoring each group to fit the tone, stakes, and themes you want your players to wrestle with.
Just remember, no enemy should go down easy. Push your players. Make them think, sweat, and curse your name under their breath. Because if they walk away unscarred, you didn’t do your job.
Fall In!
We invite you to please subscribe.