Orthodoxy means not thinking – not needing to think. Orthodoxy is unconsciousness.
George Orwell, 1984,1949
In warfare the strategic configurations of power (shih) do not exceed the unorthodox (ch'i) and orthodox (cheng), but the changes of the unorthodox and orthodox can never be completely exhausted. The unorthodox and orthodox mutually produce each other, just like an endless cycle. Who can exhaust them?
Sun Tzu, The Art of War, c. 450 BCE
In essence [the unorthodox] remains a descriptive tool for tactical conceptualization, for characterizing and manipulating forces within - and by exploiting - an enemy's matrix of expectations, rather than a transformational mode to be actualized in the concrete reality of men and weapons the way a military formation is deployed.
Ralph D. Sawyer, “Introduction” for Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, c. 450 BCE
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In essence 'orthodox' tactics include employing troops in the normal, conventional, 'by the book' expected ways, such as massive frontal assaults, while stressing order and deliberate movement. 'Unorthodox' tactics are primarily realized through employing forces, especially flexible ones, in imaginative, unconventional, unexpected ways. Therefore, instead of direct chariot attacks, unorthodox tactics would mount circular or flanking thrusts. Instead of frontal assaults, they would follow indirect routes to stage unexpected, behind-the-lines forays. Their definition is of course dependent upon normal expectations within a particular battlefield context, as well as the enemy's actual anticipations, and therefore they are mutually defining, mutually transforming, and circular in essence.
Ralph D. Sawyer, “Introduction” for Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, c. 450 BCE
With the orthodox govern the state; with the unorthodox employ the army.
Lao Tzu in Ralph D. Sawyer, “Introduction” for Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, c. 450 BCE
The cavalry provides mobility; frees the army from having its main assault weapon (hitherto the chariot) confined to level terrain, and permits the development of unorthodox maneuvers.
Ralph D. Sawyer, “Introduction” for Sun Tzu’s The Art of War, c. 450 BCE