Quote Originally Posted by lord_khaine View Post
Gnomes absolutely do have superweapons. They glassed a town.
They have nukes, or maybe just really big bombs. The point is that they're not relying on big rituals or narrative crutches, which Black points out can turn on you. For an example that actually happens on screen, look at the Dwarves versus the Drow. The Drow are basically all Shonen Anime characters, while the Dwarves just show up with infantry formations with crossbow and siege support. And yet they beat the Drow like rented mules. Or look at the Dead King. His whole shtick is that he's the longest-lived and most powerful villain on the continent precisely because he doesn't lean on villainous tropes to beat people. When he wants to bring down a castle, he doesn't use a ritual that breaks open the sky, he uses (admittedly creepy and undead) siege towers.

For a start, the entire Proccer civil war was fought without named on any side. That was pure tactics.
For most of the war it was throwing bodies at each other, backed by Malicia's willingness to fund anyone who wanted to keep fighting. What ultimately ended the war was the intervention of a side with Named backing in the Augur. At no point did Procer develop anything like the professional military or War College Black instituted in Praes.

And Black got just as far by having a team of absurdly powerful named behind him. Warlock alone is a walking, army wrecking doomsday device.
Who very rarely gets taken off the leash. In the Vales, Black largely held him back until he was needed to counter the Witch.

While as for the 10th Crusade, its funny you call it name cheating. While completely neglegting the BS it is, that we got 1 side who is a regular medieval army.
And another side who better than real world grade explosives, as well as engineers who see in the dark...
Yeah, that's the point. One side is relying on story, the other side is relying on superior technology and tactics. There's nothing stopping Procer from training their troops more effectively, or learning to build their own siege, or developing their own answers to goblinfire. They just happen to rely on the power granted by the heavens instead.