[Mass Combat] Levies in a TL3 Western Europe context

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Anders

When you call up the peasantry to fight (and die) for you, what kind of troops are you likely to get?

Depends on the structure of the levy. Generally speaking what you have is that the landholder's deed will specify a number and quality of troops they're expected to provide, so what you get depends on what those deeds specify, and how much the landholders think they can get away with skimping. Of course, better troops generally require them to spend a larger amount of time in training and upkeep, so cavalry and heavy industry are probably 'warriors who also do peacetime work' instead of 'peacetime workers who turn into warriors when the call goes out', but there's no really clear dividing line.