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Imperator-Zor β The medieval army ratio
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Published: 2016-02-19 12:07:15 +0000 UTC; Views: 34382; Favourites: 59; Downloads: 76
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This is a general ratio that I came up with in regards to the armies which could be fielded by a typical medieval society. This is something of an upper limit and at the same time it does not represent the offensive power a nation could muster. Many systems for raising troops had a lot of troops who served as police and because armies moved slowly you'd often need a fair number of local garrisons to hold back attack.If i got it wrong, i'll adjust as necessary.
Used a combination of east Asian and European design influences for the designs of these guys.
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Comments: 28
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You know I was thinking of a scenario where thanks to some better farming techniques, technology and possibly magic it only requires 30 peasants to support ten townsfolk. Who in tern with some slightly better production techniques can support twice as many of either tipe of warrior. While that doesn't seem like much at first it would have huge ripple effects on the general wealth and standard of living for a pre industrial society.
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At that point you are approaching the productivity at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. In that cast you would be able to support something akin to Revolutionary France's Levy En Masse, where you can conscript all men from 18 to 25 to serve in your army and outfit them reasonably well.
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Though I was thinking there'd be a lack of black powder weaponry. So perhaps a form of pike and shot, only replaced with crossbows would be popular. Mixed with the occasional armored horse mounted knight has elite shock troops.
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What if we account for the fact that the work ethic in the Feudal Era was probably not as intense as many may imagine. Collectively, the Catholic Church had about 4 months worth of holidays and the general attitude seemed to be that men would do just enough to keep his way of life stable and spend much of his time on living and enjoying life.
The work ethic changed with the rise of Protestantism and now western civilization takes part in 5-6 day work weeks for long hours which also gave rise to higher living standards. At the least, I'd imagine that would trim down at least 10 peasants.
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Medieval work was punctuated. It might have been fairly easy when the grain was growing up, but when it was time for harvest it was intense work all day every day for everyone who can stand. A man with a sickle or a scythe could only collect so much a day and you needed every single last man to bring it all in before it rots. If you want to eliminate peasants, get your hands on new world crops and invent mechanized seed drills, reapers and threshers.
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My world has a magic study called "The practicum" which is to effectively remove the need to eat up time with repetitive labor so that'll probably take care of the mechanized seed drill factor and such.
Thanks for the extra dose of understanding.
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Last soldier look like a bird but a great guideΒ
Now I can create the accurate armies for glorius kingdom of pootis to protect the sandwich harvester of the empire(self proclaimed lol)
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Logistics are, time and time again, a female dog.
You really should dig up some of Bernard Cornwell's novels, you might enjoy them...Β (Or the Bazil Broketail series, which is a bit...tract-y at times and suffers from some adventure cliches, but it does have interesting thoughts about logistics and superheavy infantry...)
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One of the better fantasy books i've read is the Stormlight Archives by Brandon Sanderson. One of the good points they bring up about it is that they say that while what are basically magical suits of power armor and magic swords that can cut through almost anything are definitely useful things to have in the battle, what is more important for armies on the march are magical items that can turn rocks into grain.
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Okay, I'll put Stormlight on my reading list.
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I'd recommend the audio-book version.
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What about professionals that are not part of the warrior class?
Like Sargents?Β
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In the case you'd most likely integrate them among the full time warriors.
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Well, they aren't trained from birth; but they are not part time.
So 2 to 90 peasants? Somewhere between 1 and 4?Β
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Training is only part of the equation, drilling is just as important. For a full time soldier training does not end once one is fully inducted into the unit, they practice constantly to stay in top order and to maintain cohesion. One can be a great warrior who is excellent in a fight and skilled with weapons but a piss poor soldier who does not follow orders and does not work as part of a team. The Qing bannerman class in the Qing Dynasty was a hereditary military class in which every able bodied man was required to train and serve as a soldier, but as drill requirements were both low and laxly enforced at best. The result was an inferior army even factoring in it's other deficiencies.
Full time warriors is a category which includes but is not exclusively composed of members of hereditary warrior castes like knights or samurai. Though it's a lot less romantic a solid and well supported standing army composed or rigorously trained soldiers recruited from the common folk can match such a warrior caste. Even so a standing army is not necessarily up to said snuff. Conscripts in the Russian Imperial Army would be more akin to the feudal levies and there would be intermediary units.
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A sergent is given the same gear as a milita, just a coat of mail and a better helmet.
He's not wearing plate armor of any kind and he still uses a relatively cheap spear or pike.Β
Sure he is professional, but the peasants don't need to support him the 18 years he grows up. They also don't need to provide for his learning of Latin, Greek, mathematics, his three horses, and so on because he doesn't have them.
I argue the cost of the warrior caste should be increased in cost on the chart and the professionals should be set at two or one. Β
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Maile was fairly expensive, not because it took a lot of skill to make but because it took a lot of work to make. A suit of maile had something like 4,000 links minimum.
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After the Black Death there was a pile of dead bodies wearing the stuff.
Mail could be passed down generations or looted from the enemy.
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Β Sergeant is a rank, so I'd assume that falls under full time military.
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wiki.totalwar.com/w/Sergeant_Sβ¦
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what's that thing on the professional soldiers helmet
not the crest
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The Soldier is carrying a crossbow in his off hand and the bit behind the helmet is the firing end of the crossbow.
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The composition of the professional soldier is pretty bad in this piece. The position of his crossbow creates the illusion that the arms of the crossbow are in fact a pair of weird horns sticking out of his helmet.
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I'm such an idiot.
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