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Post by Stormwall on Jan 18, 2017 6:08:35 GMT
The relative scale of armies has come up several times on Kingmakers RP, and we've reached a point where a guideline is necessary. Generally speaking, army size could be said to be affected by: - A kingdom's size
- A kingdom's wealth
- A kingdom's military focus
- Preparation time - gathering, mobilization, draft, training, etc.
In broadest terms, for RP purposes, your average ad hoc deployment might be 1,000-5,000 men. 10,000-20,000 would probably be considered a very serious commitment, suitable for crucial battles, etc. These are general guidelines for your average kingdom. Remember, nobody starts at superpower status.
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Post by Alexandra Feanor on Jan 19, 2017 8:13:59 GMT
If you don't mind my adding in, resources as well (such as food, transportation ability such as carts and work animals, and so on) would be a good thing to put into thought as well.
I hope im not posting out of place with this.
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Post by Stormwall on Jan 19, 2017 14:14:40 GMT
Alexandra Feanor - No, if I'd wanted to avoid comment, I'd have locked the thread. You're right, of course; I only prioritized the other factors because three of them are actual lines/'stats' in the Kingdom Creation Template, and the fourth is a function of how much work a writer puts into something.
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Post by Jassard Tesarik on Jan 21, 2017 21:57:14 GMT
A lot of it would depend on population, infrastructure, government (especially including centralization) and type and quality of military. A large city-state being threatened can probably raise 10-20% of it's total male population to arms, but they're gonna be largely poorly equipped and poorly trained. Good for defending a city, bad for anything else.
Meanwhile a Feudal Kingdom might only be able to muster a couple thousand riders in a short period time, but these are knights and men-at-arms, professional warriors who are well trained and well equipped. Great for slaughtering that city-state militia when they take to the field instead of sitting behind their walls, very bad for trying to take said walls.
Etc. etc. I've read before that a good rule of thumb for a late Medieval Fantasy standing army is 1-2% of the (military-eligible) population as a standing army. The higher the population, the lower the percentage. This doesn't take things like equipment into account at all, of course. It's a lot easier to give your folks a spear and a helmet than it is to have Roman Legionnaires tromping about. Or 50,000 full plate knights with magic 2-handed swords.
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Post by Éléonore Rousseau on Jan 22, 2017 8:22:46 GMT
I would note in this fantasy setting undead armies and other magically created forces exist so numbers will not be always so skewed toward the low end.
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