 Despite the impressive showing of force, most of the coalition's armies were hurriedly rallied family retainers and opportunists for loot with little battle experience.The leader of the coalition Yuan Shao himself had not seen action in much of the 180s since he had been in six years mourning for first his mother and then his adoptive father, during which he could not participate in military matters.This is contrasted with Dong Zhuo's battle-hardened frontiersmen, who had previously fought in the Liang Province Rebellion.