ambushes, useful or a waste of time and resources?

[KuKulzA]

they say "work hard"
they also say "work smart"

courage is standing inspite of fear, and heroes lead compatriots to bravery

Hannibal's people were declining in the face of expanding Roman power, he used excellent tactics and rallied a bunch of diverse mercenaries from all around the Mediterranean to fight the Romans and might have succeeded if not for the unsupportive aristocrats at home...
he was damn brave to do what he did, but not only was he brave, he was smart
Vercingetorix, tried to unite the Gauls to fight the Roman threat, but he had vision, and knew it was going to be hard to get all the chiefs and princes to unite... he came close but you all know what happened at Alesia... but he wasn't stupid, he tried to get the higher ground....
Tecumseh, the Shawnee Chief, like Vercingetorix, attempted to unite and create a pan-Amerindian confederacy. He was a brilliant general, and used both frontal assault and the traditional hit-and-run... but he was no coward for fighting in a guerilla style... that's how you win against a better supplied and numerically larger force... its smart


just a few examples... seeing as how Teutoburg Wald had been mentioned already

just cause people work smart doesn't mean they don't work hard, they can coexist, the great ones, work hard in a smart way and rally their people to stand with them for the 'common good'... ironically all 3 above 'failed' but they have been immortalized as the great under-dog war leaders who came so close... but were fighting a uphill battle with trouble at home...

you can add to the list... Sitting Bull... the Mayans who resisted the Spaniard, the Mapuche, the Incan rebellion that nearly succeeded, Cetwayo (sp?) the Zulu, Kachins fighting Japanese in WW2, Filipinos fighting the Spaniards and USA, Taiping Rebellion, Sepoy Rebellion ....etc.etc.