Revisiting Combat as Sport vs Combat as War

[Zombimode]

I prefer CaS, as you usually have interesting tactical battles, while CaW is mostly about having the right spell for the job, or fast-talking the DM into letting you win without a dice roll (eg. setting the goblin caves on fire so they all immedately die from smoke as the adventure doesn't specifically mention ventilation).

While it could play out like this, it is not mandatory.

For me, CaW at it's best is all about leveling the playing field. You have to act on the strategic layer to even have a chance for winnig. That's why CaW does not preclude tactical insteresting encounters.

Red Hand of Doom is very much a CaW campaign done right: many of the major sites have strong enough opposition that, when combined, will crush the PCs or at least make it a very costly fight.

As such the players are encouraged to act on the strategic layer (taking out isolated enemies before the fight, sneaking/moving into favorable positions, aquiring allies, trying to fight the enemies piecemeal, using the environment, scouting and perparing etc.) in addition to perform well in the actual combat.

To me that makes the whole experience more meaningful in contrast to when it would be clear to me that I, as a player, can't do anything to shift the scales and that I also don't have a need to because the encounters are already tailored.