[Mass Combat] Levies in a TL3 Western Europe context

[Anders]

When you call up the peasantry to fight (and die) for you, what kind of troops are you likely to get? I mean, they'll probably be low-quality and badly equipped, but apart from that?

What do you think of a mix of 20% Archers/30% Light Infantry/30% Medium Infantry and 20% Heavy Infantry? More Light Infantry? Less Heavy?

[Rupert]

Unless it's from a place with a tradition of archery or slinging, it'll be all melee troops, and just about all will have a spear, shield, helmet, and maybe some basic body armour, whatever that rates as in that time and place.

[Tinman]

Assuming mainland Europe (not Brittan).
Also, partly will depend on traditional enemies.
(If your main enemy is horsemen you might raise pikemen.)

Based on the troop descriptions (MC.16-17):
I'd be inclined to say (at best):
Lt Infantry: 10%
Md Infantry: 80%
Hv Infantry*: 10%
or Pikemen*: 10%

If no Hv Infantry:
Lt Infantry: 10%
Md Infantry: 90%

*I'm not sure peasant levies could be Hv Infantry.
Trained militia certainly could though.

Troop Descriptions:
Light Infantry (TL1):
Skirmishers & light missile troops.
They wear little to no armor, but may carry bucklers or small shields.

Medium Infantry (TL1):
Fight in a looser melee formation.
Lightly armored or unarmored foot soldiers.

Heavy Infantry (TL2):
Fight in close formation for hand-to-hand combat.
Equipped with armor and a shield.

Pikemen (TL2):
Heavy infantry with pikes.
Equipped with armor.

[mlangsdorf]

I'd generally put peasant levies as a 70%:30% mix of Medium and Light Infantry, all with Poor equipment and Inferior training. Some lands at certain times might have a better mix, say 50%:30% of the previous type, but 20% being noticeably better with Basic equipment and Average training and a special troop type. The English would have Bowmen, the Swiss would have Pikemen, and Germany and Spain would have Heavy Infantry. There might be others and some of these might be wrong; medieval military history is not my focus.

So a 2,000 man force of English levies would be:
* 60 elements of P/I Light Infantry: TS 30, R
* 100 elements of P/I Medium Infantry: TS 75
* 40 elements of B/A Bowmen: TS 80, F

For a total of TS 205, F 80, R 30.

Most peasant levies would be led by the local knights, who are probably Heavy Cavalry with Fine equipment and Average training. Around 1-2% of the force are going to be knights, so you could add:

* 4 elements of F/A Heavy Cavalry: TS 40, Cav

Mercenary forces with Good equipment and Average training are going to match levies even if the levies have a 5:1 numbers advantage. Which feels about right.

400 man mercenary company:
* 20 elements of G/A Heavy Infantry: TS 120
* 10 elements of G/A Bowmen: TS 30, F
* 5 elements of G/A Light Infantry: TS 15, R
* 5 elements of F/A Heavy Cavalry: TS 50, Cav

[Donny Brook]

I think most earlier replies are rather optimistic. They sound more like a town or county militia.

There may be some times and places where the levy gets called up for 'training' during peace time and has some identity between callups. In these cases there may be a stock of spears to hand out and there may be experienced or stronger individuals who act as corporals and have a helm and torso armor they keep at home.

Most of the time there will be no such organization and the men will bring whatever makeshift weapons and protection they happen to have on hand (farm and hunting tools). They will be marshalled by whatever armsman the lord can spare from the foot soldiery, probably a grizzled or disabled veteran. Quality will be terrible. The tendency to cluster together will make them sort of Medium Infantry.

[mlangsdorf]

And that differs from my suggestion of Poorly equipped, inferiorly trained Medium Infantry how? I guess I suggested that some troops are going to be Light Infantry, but that just means they'll throw some stuff at the enemy before running away. Making a percentage of the troops Light Infantry makes the overall force weaker, not better.

[Anders]

According to the Swedish medieval laws every man over 18 (unless he was lame, etc.) had to have bow and 36 arrows; sword, spear, or axe; shield; helmet (iron hat); and some form of torso protection, "brynja" (cheap scale or mail, probably).

I'd say that would point towards medium infantry.

[Donny Brook]

Originally Posted by Anders

According to the Swedish medieval laws every man over 18 (unless he was lame, etc.) had to have bow and 36 arrows; sword, spear, or axe; shield; helmet (iron hat); and some form of torso protection, "brynja" (cheap scale or mail, probably).

I'd say that would point towards medium infantry.

Sweden and other places where the tradition of a fyrd or similar survived into medieval times would be different than places where that tradition was lost.

The fyrd is the continuance of a tribal/clan social structure where to be a free man was to be a soldier at need. When I think of a medieval peasant levy I think of societies with more occupational specialization and a deeper social divide.

Originally Posted by mlangsdorf

And that differs from my suggestion of Poorly equipped, inferiorly trained Medium Infantry how?

Only a matter of degree. For example, I don't think countries fielding irregulars with bows, pikes or heavy infantry training would be drawing them from the peasant levy. Likewise, effective light infantry requires a degree of coordination and motivation that exceed what you'd find in the levy.

[mlangsdorf]

Originally Posted by Anders

According to the Swedish medieval laws every man over 18 (unless he was lame, etc.) had to have bow and 36 arrows; sword, spear, or axe; shield; helmet (iron hat); and some form of torso protection, "brynja" (cheap scale or mail, probably).

I would say that Sweden's levies would have Basic or Good equipment, but the troop type is uncertain.

You can have Poorly equipped Heavy Infantry with a shield and spear and no body armor, or Finely equipped Medium Infantry with greatsword and maximillian plate harness. Troop type is determined by how a unit fights, not their gear.

But with those requirements, a force equally split among Bowmen, Heavy Infantry, Light Infantry, and Medium Infantry sounds reasonable. I'm curious on how well trained the average freeman was - it is possible they could have enough veterans in the ranks to be considered Average quality.

[hal]

Depending on what levies we're talking about determines what kind of troops you will get.

For instance, village Militia will largely have poorly trained, poorly drilled spear and shield - with little in the way of anything other than improvised armor. If they don't have actual weapons of war, they will improvise and utilize other tools of farming for use as weapons of war.

The biggest reason here is that peasant revolts were a thing to be feared regardless of whether we're talking about England or the Continent.

Generally speaking, each family is responsible for providing one military aged male body for such a militia. So, for example, you have a village of 110 families, it should be able to provide some 110 able bodied adult males.

Once you start to get away from village militias - you will start to get involved with Town or even City Militias. These militia will be better trained and better provisioned. I would stick with the rules given in the City Stats rules than try to provide any guidelines, because each case would be annoyingly non-standard ;)

When you start to get closer to those troops who are battle trained and battle hardened is where you will run into trained archers (Generally speaking, yeomanry whose obligations tie in being available as fighting men vs a lower rent. As Freemen, they CAN move from village to village without the say so of their lord - within reason.

Here is where things get a little interesting: Renters (Freemen) are obilgated to pay the full rental owed even if they decide to leave their village. So, if a freeman were to agree to a 3 year rent, after one year, decides to leave the village - he still owes those remaining 2 years.

In any event - take my words with a grain of salt, as they're only worth what you paid for them (nothing!). **teasing grin**

I will say this though: If you have a lord who lives on a frontier whose men are constantly at risk of enemy raids - THOSE men will likely have the equipment they need to stave off attacks and possibly be better trained than your average local yokel.

The following is based upon HARN WORLD material - but if you're interested, I can give you more details on the how and why of it (including a different pricing scheme).

Treat each unit of Men as 5 men instead of 8 to 10 men. A village of 50 families would be obligated to field 10 units of militia. HARN provides the cost/price to pay for various fighting individuals, and using the MASS COMBAT rules for raising Troops with a baseline of monthly wages for said troops in the "Harnic Silver penny" economy works just fine.

If you're looking for some good books to read just to get some ideas - I would suggest the medieval life series by Gies and Gies (8 books)

Then there is Armies and Warfare in the Middle Ages: The English Experience. The thing to keep in the back of your mind is that some of these books are available used, for less than the cost of a Game supplement.

Myself, I've been content to buy various books by Professor Christopher Dyer on various Medieval topics - but that's a matter of taste, money, and time.