Men-at-Arms

Men-at-Arms is the most common term used to refer to soldiers in the employ of a nobleman of the Daeghonian Empire.

The right and duty to maintain private armies
Noblemen in the empire of certain rank and import not only have the right, but also the duty to maintain a private retinue of soldiers.

Many lords are granted fiefs that include settlements and fortifications. They are allowed to tax anyone who lives on their land, but in return for this tax, they must uphold the law, the Imperial Law as well as any local laws. They must also offer their subjects protection, and they can only do this by employing, not only guards, but soldiers. A fighting force that can mobilize and attack, not just defend.

The reason these fighting forces are referred to as private armies, is because they stand as opposed to the King's Army which is the national army, as well as to the Imperial Legions, though the royal armies differ very little from private armies, and in truth, the closest thing to a defensive and concquest minded army the Empire has is the legion.

All lords with almost no exception have a brief background as officers in the Imperial Legion, and it's not rare that they after this serve as officers in the private armies of other lords, before inheriting their titles, or in the royal armies even, so it's needless to say that most lords have experience as military commanders. Seeing as all Lords must be Knighted before they can assume their title, they also have quite an impressive amount of martial training compared to the average person, even though some Knights fail to rival even the lowest ranking grunts in combat prowess (though this is rare). Seeing as the Legions run on a drafting system, conscripting many people for a period of time every year, there are always people returning from the legion, with military experience and training, and these are the primary candidates for training and outfitting in private armies, but it's not unheard of that a Lord must train raw recruits.

With many people returning from the Legions every year, the outfitting is definately the hardest part, as recruiting tends to be easy. Because gear is expensive and takes a long time to make, some lords turn to mercenaries, making permanent contracts with them. This has caused a strange fashion to erupt, where several mercenary commanders (most of whom are either already Knights albeit low born, or former Centurion -Sergeants- from the Legions, essentially experienced legionaires who sign up for their third conscription period, or are recognized to have talent are promoted into the ranks of Centurion, giving them command of others, usually they start out as Infantry centurions) have been Knighted. These Mercenary Knight-captains are called Condottieri, and they tend to be more expensive than a private army, but faster to employ, more experienced as well as faster and cheaper than forming a new army (considering the prices of outfitting).

Men-at-Arms
Just like in the legions, there are different tiers of soldiers and different categories.

Infantry
The most basic units are the infantry, and also the most important. Because private armies are normally infinately smaller than the might of the Legions, they tend to lack the Auxillery category (support troops), and usually infantry serve these roles. In fantry is normally cross-trained to use at least 4 weapons, seeing as they recieve most of this training in the legions. Their primary weapon tends to be an arming sword, and while displaying no extraordinary skill with such an elegant weapon, they are trained to use it well in combination with a shield. Crossbow training is important to light infantry, as the crossbow is the all-round best weapon for castle defense. Usually the warhammer is a good third choice, as it works well against medium armor (chainmail for instance, which is hard to cut or stab through, but doesn't protect against blunt attacks very well), and tends to come with a spike, doubling as a military pick making it very effective against heavy armor too. Finally they are trained with polearms. Infantry forces tend to keep an arsenal, and switch weapons depending on the current assignment. While there's usually not enough crossbows in a barons army that everyone has one, some tend to be designated marksmen in the field, or they are passed along between upong getting guard duty when defending. Polearms are also generally used in warfare when facing cavalry, or when defending a keep, but also during guard duty.

Infantry are the most versitile forces around, not in skill but in expectations. They are charged with many things they are often not fully proficient in when they first enlist, but most grow with the job. Infantry can easily expect to be asked to ride in combat or when escorting someone, as well as they might suddenly find themselves taking on support roles, cooking or guarding, even policing a city during a declaration of martial law. They might find themselves builders or clerks in times of need also, but such jobs mostly befall the light infantry who are truly the "grunts" of the military system when it comes to private armies. Infantry forces are commonly also trained to use any siege engines that their liege might reside over.

Light Infantry
Light Infantry are the most common men-at-arms. Usually equipped with a gambeson suit, a metal helmet, a pair of armored gloves and possibly jack-chains and knee-pads, as well as a weapon of some sort, typically an arming sword and a shield. Light infantry are usually inexperienced, with only 1 conscription period under their belt when recruited, but many never advance to more prestigous divisions, as their lord lacks the funds to outfit them as befitting such a division. Barons tend to employ large forces of light infantry. Counts and dukes rarely maintain forces of light infantry at all, as they tend to be able to afford to outfit their troops, and there's no advantage to light infantry.

Medium infantry
Used to be there was no medium infantry, but the advancement of forging techniques and the near industrialization of the metal working business, has caused a revolution militarily speaking, as some lords can now afford plate armor parts for their soldiers, a notion that was preposterous up until nearing a life time ago. Medium infantry are commonly outfitted with chainmail, but otherwise differ little from their light counterparts. Medium infantry is becoming more and more common throughout the empire as chainmail becomes cheaper and cheaper, many lords having stockpiles of it. Wealthy barons might be able to afford to outfit a lot of their troops as medium infantry, and it's even seen sometimes that a lord has a smaller amount of light infantry than medium. Counts tend to favor medium infantry as their primary forces. Medium infantry tend to be all-round experienced soldiers, with several campaigns under their belt, but in some cases, they are as inexperienced as their light counterpart.

Heavy Infantry
Heavy infantry was a dream that could never come true a few years ago. Now, many higher ranking noblemen flaunt their wealth by outfitting their already experienced veteran soldiers with plate armor. It shames many Knights of lower standing to find themselves outfitted worse than a common soldier. Heavy infantry are generally tough soldiers, mostly employed as personal house-hold guards by a duke, or as an elite fighting unit by a count. Some barons can afford heavy infantry, but most barons are lucky if they can afford plate armor for themselves. The heavy armor used by heavy infantry tends to be brigandine/plate coats, along with some relatively "crude" leg guards, spoulders and a gorget. Sometimes a breast plate or a partial breastplate is thrown into the mix. It's extremely rare to find common soldiers equipped in actual full plate. This kind of plate armor is commonly referred to as fieldplate, as it's basically a combination of various plate parts, not size specific.

Archers
Archers are a funny size compared to cavalry and infantry, as their categories are divided differently.

Arbalists
A crossbow shooter who is primarily a crossbow shooter is called an arbalist. they tend to be lightly armored, usually looking similar to light infantry, but usually more poorly armed in the melee department. Arbalists are considerably cheaper to hire than marksmen, because they require much less training, although they are not nearly as effective, and more and more they are becoming a common sight. Becoming a arbalist is a step up from light infantry, and most arbalists are previous infantry forces who show skill with the crossbow, or just deserve a reward for their services. Some years ago, the crossbow was still an uncommon weapon in human hands and archers were generally small fighting forces highly valued. They still are, but with the addition of arbalists, the archery troops have grown in numbers. Seeing as arbalists are trained infantry, they can easily be outfitted for both jobs, and it's not uncommon to find crossbowmen lugging a shield on their back and a sword by their side, but just as common to find them with nothing but an old gladius or a warhammer apart from their crossbow.

Marksmen
The true archers, the bow wielding soldiers, are rare and difficult to train. Most don't have a background as infantry forces, and are recruited specifically into the legion due to being former hunters apprentices or otherwise have reason to know the bow and arrow. Marksmen are paid better than most other soldiers, tend to be stronger, more endurant and more skilled in various ways (with most actually having a trade, that's a step up from being a farmers boy drafted into the legion at age 16). The best of them are used as scouts, and all of them are crosstrained to function as infantry and typically also cavalry if need be. Archers are valued, and are equipped to show it, many have better armor and weapons than their infantry counter-parts despite not needing it. Marksman can fire longer, harder, more precise and faster than their arbalist counterparts, and further more they can hunt and forage adding to their combat value. While an arbalist is not a bad shot at all, when firing on longer distances, they tend to fire more or less blindly into crowds, while a marksman can pick a specific target at great distance. Most private armies do have a few marksmen, but they are rare compared to other troops.

Normally a marksman is outfitted with a longbow, but the term "longbowman" refers to a soldier trained for a short duration of time primarily to use his bow for volley attacks, and is as such not a marksman. Longbowmen are rare these days as the arbalists have taken their place.

A single marksman rarely has more than 20 arrows with him at any time as it's hard to squeeze more into a quiver, but usually stays close to a munitions wagon. Because of their low amount of ammunition, they are at highest effectivity when "bombarding" an area with arrows, as this usually kills or disables most people in that given area costing each marksman no more than 1 arrow.

Rifleman
Riflemen are very rare in most of the empire, while actually slowly taking the place of both marksmen and archers in the south-eastern part of the Empire. Guns are still not accurate enough to be effective though, and while it seemed like a good idea at the time of their replacement, stastics show that effectiveness of gu wielding "archers" has at the present decresed their effectiveness, while increased their cost, but the deadliness of the rifles cannot be denied. Mostly out of interest to stay up to date with modern times, most kings maintain a small company of riflemen. Rifles haven't been implemented in hunting yet, and as such, there are no "experienced" citizens to choose from, and riflemen must be trained from the very basics. Most are former crossbow men as there seems to be a consensus that there is a similarity between the two weapons, though little it may be. The dream is to eliminate the need to differentiate between infantry and archers, outfitting rifles with bayonets and equipping troops with them by the thousands, but this goal is far out into the distant future.

Mounted archers
Whether crossbow wielding, rifle wielding or bow wielding, mounted archers are extremely rare in the Empire, but the barbaric horse-tribes to the east make frequent and effective use of them. Mounted archery means using a smaller bow, a smaller bow means it has to be sturdier to achieve some degree of draw, and the riding means the bows become highly inaccurate, but when used for skirmish attacks, they are without equal. Many knights have taught themselves the techniques, using it for hunting game, but many prefer the crossbow, resulting in the reload hook being invented (a hook installed on the saddle, used for the "nose ring" of the crossbow when reloading, to provide leverage). A skilled cross-bow wielding mounted archer can reload a crossbow in a few seconds and because of the skirmishing techniques used in warfare, there is actually no loss in effeciency compared to the bow, because the bow-wielding skirmisher will still have to turn his horse around and ride back in for another skirmish, and seeing as he doesn't have a hand free, while the crossbow wielding archer does for the most time, they come up somewhat even in effectiveness.

Cavalry
Referred to as Gendarms for the most part, cavalry in private armies as well as official ones are considered elite. They may very well be the reason many lords cannot afford better outfitting for their infantry, because horses are expensive to keep and train and their riders must be well trained to keep being effective. A trained rider is not as difficult to come by these days in the empire as they were some decades ago, but steps have been taken to ensure the future of the cavalry, horses remain expensive, and as such, both horses and riders are typically armored to some degree. For obvious reasons, cavalry are also trained as infantry, as new horses don't grow on trees, and if they lose one they will have to do without until they can find a suitable replacement. Horses must be wartrained to be of any use to cavalry forces, and not simply any horse will do, though a trained rider can possibly force his horse into combat even if it isn't combat trained, but most would refrain form this. While the terms heavy, medium and light also applies to cavalry, this tends to be more in regard to the size and type of the horse, rather than the armor of the cavalry.

Light Cavalry
Light cavalry units are typically as well armored the best armored troops in their employers retinue. They ride horses called a "rouncy". Such horses are usually light and not terribly muscular, but they are fast and agile, with tempers and endurance allowing them to move faster than other troops, and in more difficult terrain. These troops are usually used for skirmish attacks, often trained to use crossbows from horseback, and sometimes they fall under the mounted archer category rather, but sometimes they use lances or other weapons and simply skirmish using those. Light horses cannot carry as much as their heavier counterparts, and will struggle if donning too much armor as well as carrying an armored rider and having to carry their own supplies, and a compromise has to be reached. Usually light cavalry features lightly armored horses, heavily armored troops and can then carry their own supplies. They are NOT used for charge attacks, as a light horse like these would not be able to pull off such maneuvers in most cases. Light cavalry is by far the most practical for most Lords to employ because they make excellent patrols and against unorganized enemies, they are still as effective as any cavalry unit. Light horses are also easy to replace, as their breeds are fairly common and most breeds can substitute them. Because of their lightness they can survive and remain endurant on nothing but grass for weeks on end where bigger horses will start to grow fatigued if not fed properly because their large amount of muscle requires more energy and more proteines to be sustained. Wealthy lords might equip their light cavalry with coursers rather than rouncers. Compared to the courser, the rouncer might seem like a common horse, but to be classified as a rouncer, a horse still has to meet certain standards, and while it's true that rouncers are rarely specifically bred, but often just selected, they are still common horses. In the empire, riding horses were rare up until some time ago, and most horses were draft horses (low horses with exceptional musculature - one might call them ponies). Riding horses, or rouncers, are still somewhat rare, but many have been captured and brought back from the east, and many families now own at least one. The riding horses called palfreys from the east are perhaps the paramount of riding horses, but breeding them with the draft horses from the west has resulted in the rouncy which is more muscular and endurant than the palfreys and taller than the drafts, making them ideal for warfare. Palfreys are becoming less and less common, some rounceys that take more to the palfrey are called hunters.

Medium Cavalry
Medium Cavalry ride horses known as Coursers. Very few lords employ higher tiers of cavalry than medium cavalry as Knights tend to fill the role of the last tier when need be. Coursers are still more common that the heavy warhorses needed for heavy cavalry, but infantely more rare than the common rouncer, and infact, one could say that a courser is simply a high-quality rouncer. Compared to a rouncer, a courser looks muscular and tall, while retaining much of the same agility. There is practically no down-side to the courser versus the rouncer, apart from generally a small step down in agility, and the fact that the courser cannot be sustained on grass alone for as long as the rouncer, making it somewhat less ideal for patrols and very long journeys. Coursers are bred specifically and rarely appears as the random offsping of two horses, as the rouncer might, and they are trained for warfare through generations, so it's in their genes by now, and they tend to be aggressive and less afraid than other horses. Because they are primarily used in warfare, they tend to be armored well enough, at least on the front, but usually they have a decent amount of barding all over. They can charge through enemy lines, but not through shieldwalls very well, and they are best used as a "second wave" following up right behind heavy cavalry, picking off the confused scattered soldiers who's line has just been broken.

Heavy Cavalry
This role is mostly filled by Knights, but some lords maintain heavy cavalry, as does the legions and the royal armies. While the hunter is the result of breeding the rouncy more towards the palfrey, and the courser is the most ideal middle-ground, the rouncy itself being somewhwere in between those two, the Destrier is the kind bred more towards the draft horse. Breeding destriers is expensive and difficult, but these horses are generally as tall as coursers and as muscular as drafts, though this means they have to eat oat and grain on often, because they cannot sustain their musclemass on grass alone. Destriers are mighty and awesome looking horses that can charge through almost anything. They tend to be fearless and examples have been seen of knights taking to foot surrounded on the field of battle while their mount continously skirmishes by knocking over enemies, aiding it's rider. It's believed that magic was used when this species was developed. These horses were bred to be armored, and can even carry special horse chain-armors (though these are rarely produced). These very strong horses serve a function mainly in warfare, but because they are so expensive, many heavy cavalry units must suffice with bigger and stronger coursers rather than true destrier, but Knights will not do without. It's also the best horse for jousting.

Artillery
Artillery in these days is mostly in the form of siege engines or cannons. The empire has a very strict policy against cannons, but lords with sea-side keeps are allowed to maintain them as long as they face the occean, but they may not be moved. Ships may also acquire cannons, for self-defence, but not all captains are willing to transport explosive and incindiary powder on their wooden vessels, and even fewer can afford it. Most keeps maintain both trebuchets and ballistae for defensive purposes and these are manned by whoever protects the keep (usually light infantry), and when in the field used for a siege, it's usually also light infantry, but typically permanently assigned, which is considered a good post.

Officers
Private armies and navies alike are normally lead by a captain, where official armies are normally lead by a general and official navies by an admiral. Official armed forces are bigger and have more links in the chain of command, officer ranks such as colonel and Major exist as well, but in private armies, the leader is commonly a Knight-Captain (a title that indicates that he is both Knight and commanding officer). Lieutenants are employed only in bigger private armies (commonly those of Barons and Earls), and these titles are held by Knights as well.

Sergeants are commonly very experienced soldiers who have leadership potential. Lowborn cannot rise beyond sergeant however, and sergeants in private armies are known as Sergeant-at-arms rather than men-at-arms.

Corporals are regarded as sergeants in training for the most part, and act as the lieutenants for the sergeant, and are also lowborn.

Composition
The composition of a fighting force is often not very effective on it's own. A lord will often have an abundance of one kind of troop and rely on some sort of ally to provide the other kinds. For instance, an earl living in a very steep mountain keep might have difficulties keeping cavalry forces, as just training them will require him to move them almost half a days journey away, as such he might rely primarily on archers and infantry, and rely on an ally to provide cavalry if going to war.

Counts and dukes are not required to maintain men-at-arms in the same way Barons and Earls are, as such, they often emply only a few troops to act as personal protection and otherwise simply take advantage of the protection offered by other noblemen's troops.

An ideally composed fighting force of a baron could look like this:

30 light infantry men, 10 equipped with polearms, 10 with crossbows as well as sword and shield, and 10 with warhamers and shields.

10 medium infantry, acting primarily as personal guard, sword and shield.

5 heavy infantry soldiers, equipped with greatswords.

15 arbalists

8 marksmen

10 light cavalry

5 medium cavalry

no heavy cavalry - Except for himself and the officers employed by him.

Usage and strategies
Infantry forces are the primary bulk of an army. They can occupy any building that can store food, and can travel anywhere provided they have enough resources to do so (the right clothing and enough food and water - ect.). Because most of them have a background in the legions, they are competent formation fighters, usually keeping a line of shields in the front, with a strong middle (medium or heavy infantry, or even mixed), and light infantry in the back using polearms. The flanks are usually also composed of light infantry if a broader line is used. If not, the light infantry is typically held in reserve if possible, used to flank the enemy or to replace fallen heavy infantry.

The polearm wielding infantry units are supposed to prevent charging soldiers and cavalry units from overwhelming the line, but they also shout back when someone has fallen in the first line, resulting in a light infantry soldier squeezing through to take his place, while the wounded sodier is pulled back. Soldiers rarely die instantly in battle, but are often incapacitated to the point where they can do nothing but lie and bleed out which is considered a cruel fate. Because medical supplies are rare, sometimes such cases are put out of their misery, but rarely by allied units as that would seriously lower morale.

Polearms are "unwieldy" weapons, meaning that in many situations, they need to be dropped or are dropped by accident, and as such, actual "spear soldiers" are rare, rather most lords just outfit some of their better light infantry soldiers with these, without taking away their primary equipment, meaning most such carry a shield on their back or by their side. Not having a shield out makes them vulnurable to arrows and such, but because they are not in the front, they will typically only be subject to volleys, and volleys are normally detected before they hit, as such soldiers are trained to react to the shout "VOLLEY!" in much the same way as modern soldiers are trained to react to the shout "ARTILLERY!", though the reaction pattern is different, as infantry forces simply raise their shields. Sometimes the polearm wielding soldiers have time to raise there's too... Sometimes not, but regardless, being a polearm wieldier is still a safer job than being in the front lines, but it also requires more experience and more adherence to the battle-commands.

Due to the lack of radios, troops are trained to react to certain flag signals and horn signals. Every single unit has a flag carrier who also carries a bag with several folded signal flags. All people of the rank corporal or higher are outfitted with a signal horn, or have a soldier at the ready who is (sometimes the same man as the flag carrier). While an effective enough way to hinder the enemy in sending messages, it's considered a cowardly move to kill the standard bearer as he is typically incapable of defending himself, rather these are normally captured or even let go with messages of ransom demands.

Cavalry are ill-suited for defensive purposes as they lose effectiveness when standing still, but they can be used in a harrassing fashion, to chase and scare enemy infantry units, causing them to scatter, but such tactics do not work forever.

When one unit attacks another, just like in modern military operations, they try to gain some sort of advantage, archers are usually placed on high-ground and cavalry is hidden if possible, used for maximal shock effect when introduced, and preferably they are not until they can flank the enemy.

When archers shoot from high ground, they can shoot further which means that the enemy archers have to move far within their range to fire back. Placing the infantry forces close to the archers forces the enemy to either attack or retreat, and the enemy does not have the luxury of waiting for the opponent to attack instead.

Cavalry forces when used offensively are either used to flank an already attacking or defending enemy force, or to break their line, usually after exposing said force to volleys of arrows, causing massive holes in their defence. Even though there might be polearms braced for attacking cavalry, many riders will typically break through anyway. A barded horse is more likely to knock a spear away or break it, than it is to outright injure itself, and if a horse is being ridden directly towards a spear, it will typically change course on it's own, refusing to commit suicide, and for that reason, spears are often pointed towards the rider. This is effective because the horses of the fallen can be claimed afterwards, replacing the fallen horses of the winning troops, but also because by killing the horse, the soldiers will have to defeat the soldier afterwards, and if he falls during a cavalry charge, he has ample time to escape in the confusion, meaning he will just return later as an infantry man. A dead horse can further more not be moved from the battlefield, which means, it will become an obstacle for the defending force, should they try to advance, causing a portion of their troops to move slower than the rest. Horses struck by spears will still continue through the enemy line and cause massive damage, where as a riderless horse will stop it's advance and probably cause trouble for other advancing cavalrists, as it will turn to the other horses. An injured horse can still ride, and horses are much hardier than humans. Horses in warfare tend to sustain many flesh wounds, and in a fantasy setting where medicine has advanced much beyond what could be done in the historical medieval, riders are less worried about such injuries on their horses than they once were.

When cavalry charges a line of soldiers, heavy cavalry is put infront, with medium cavalry following after, and possibly light cavalry mixed in. The heavy cavalrists feature massive horses with heavy barding, and typically riders wielding special rider shields, in other words, they are nearly unstoppable! Heavy cavalrists tend to be heavily armored themselves, and are genuinely hard to kill. Anyone stupid enough to try and hurt a horse moving that fast is likely to sustian massive damage themselves. Anyone standing in the way of such a horse is going to get trampled, meaning they are knocked away, or even worse, run over. This can cause broken ribs and massive blunt force trauma. A horse cannot sustain a charge forever, meaning it will come to a halt eventually but such situations are rare, as only the legions are known to adapt such fighting formations, and even they are moving away from them. When a horse is brought to halt surrounded by enemies, it will usually become aggressive and attack anyone close by, even allies, with bites and kickes. The bites, while not lethal are severely painful, and usually very swift, but the kicks will take a person out of battle. A cavalrist strikes from above. Defending against him requires enemies to raise their guard, but they can never hope to produce the same striking power as a person who strikes from horseback. Even with but a little momentum from the horse moving slowly in one direction, the blow is likely to knock a person over, even if successfully blocked.

Because of the lethality of cavalry forces, soldiers are trained to step away when they charge through the lines, because a living soldier who did not hold his position is still better than a dead soldier who did. Heavy infantry forces have a chance of surviving the encounter, but light and medium infantry are typically as good as dead when charged if they don't move.

A typical battle on a flat field between two roughly equal forces, would be a strange sight. Normally, at least one of the sides in the battle has some sort of battle advantage. The advantage usually dictates whether that side wishes to advance or defend. The side without the advantage will often be forced to make the opposite choice or retreat.

Battle advantage could be as in the previous example, archers placed on high-ground, or one side having more archers than the other, with a stream placed between them. Obviously both sides could refuse to cross, but the side with more archers would eventually run out of ammunition, and by then they would have killed a large number of the enemy forces, and then one of the forces would be smaller. If small enough, the disadvantage produced from having to cross a stream with a defending force on one side, would be insignificant enough that they could win the battle yet. Otherwise, both forces could remain until new ammunition arrived for either side, or one side runs out of food.

Basically, such things are hard to predict. As an army commander, it's difficult to tell exactly how much cavalry the enemey has, how many arrows they have in supply, and as such, the above example is incredibly unlikely, rather the force with fewer archers would discover this from the barrages of arrows that devastates them, and they would be forced to press the attack or retreat. Assuming the chose to attack, they would force a confrontation. If they had enough cavalry, they could possibly turn the tide of battle, but crossing a stream with defenders on one side is very dangerous.