[Wildcat]

I'm working on a TL3 campaign setting while between gaming groups because of geography. I have a little bit of writer's block brainstorming big picture things, so I thought I'd turn to a bit more detailed items, particularly designing basic soldiers for the feudal medieval-ish kingdoms where I am focusing to start with. Mostly I'm trying to figure out what would be appropriate weapon and armor selections. Here are some early thoughts.

Conscripted peasants would probably be issued a spear (maybe even a cheap one) and a medium shield. There would probably be a bunch who would also bring along axes, clubs, and/or knives of various sizes. They might -- might -- have some very light armor that is essentially heavy clothing. Would it be too much to give such conscripts even 1 cp in Shield or their melee weapon of choice?

The next step up would be lightly trained, but not professional, militia members. The best example I can think of is England's yeoman archer -- people who have regular lives outside of military service and are only called up when there is a specific conflict, but undergo regular training so they're more than fodder. This group could probably be divided into ranged and melee soldiers. They're much more likely to have dedicated (although still light) armor, hardened leather perhaps. Their weapons would probably be a step up from the conscripts, too. Longbows or composite crossbows for the ranged attackers. I'm thinking melee soldiers would be likely to have weapons governed by one of axe/mace, spear, or polearm. If they're wielding one-handed weapons, they'll probably have a medium shield, too.

The next step up would be fully professional soldiers, people who, if they aren't fighting in a war, are training for the next war. Mercenaries would probably be divided in terms of gear between this level and militia. Here is where you start seeing real metal armor -- mail, possibly scale or jack of plates, or segmented plate, but probably not the best of any of them. But here is where I run into a roadblock picking out weapons. I'm not thinking of these kinds of soldiers as rank-and-file, so I'm not really looking at spears, pikes, or polearms. Leave those to the militia. Are swords appropriate, or should I stick to less expensive weapons like axes, maces, etc.? And should I be looking at ranged professional soldiers?

Knights and nobles would obviously be the best equipped, with high-end mail and segmented plate, while wielding fine swords (probably one-handed with a shield; armor isn't yet to a level requiring huge two-handed can-openers), possibly lances for the initial charge. And of course well-protected horses.

I'm sure I'm off-base on some of these, or at least not thinking of something I should. What should I be thinking about differently? These are really just for the medieval-ish countries, as I said earlier. I also think I'll have a country that relies on a large army of moderately trained and equipped troops (equivalent to the militia I described above), that I'm thinking would probably be equipped somewhat like the Roman legions, using numbers and discipline to overcome opposing armies, rather than individually mighty champions.