Building a Fantasy Army

ATP

Well-known member


Excellent ideas.
Now,about logistic:
1.Since it is fantasy,we could build light rails for wagons pulled by horses,which could tow on them 10 times more then on road.
2.If we add magic,we could have magical powered trains,which mean even more.
3.If we add patatoes,then logistic would be much easier,and you could wage war during winter - patatoes are still there.
4.About dragons - becouse of magic,you could made them lighter then they could be,and made fire breathing calories free.
That means more dragons.
If you replace farmers with sheeps,like english gentry,it would help ,too.
And they could magically hibernate when not used !
 

Aldarion

Neoreactionary Monarchist
Well, looks like Valyria is incredibly unrealistic if you remove the magic.

Probably, though the need to feed massive dragons would at least explain why they had to create such a large empire.

Excellent ideas.
Now,about logistic:
1.Since it is fantasy,we could build light rails for wagons pulled by horses,which could tow on them 10 times more then on road.
2.If we add magic,we could have magical powered trains,which mean even more.
3.If we add patatoes,then logistic would be much easier,and you could wage war during winter - patatoes are still there.
4.About dragons - becouse of magic,you could made them lighter then they could be,and made fire breathing calories free.
That means more dragons.
If you replace farmers with sheeps,like english gentry,it would help ,too.
And they could magically hibernate when not used !

Yeah, but light rails means being limited to railways. Not impossible, but... as for the rest, agreed, though I will note that warfare was waged during winter even before potatoes. Romans did so, Hungarians did so, Ottomans did so.

Rest of it, yeah, it would work.
 

Doomsought

Well-known member
It would be interesting to get into the topic of pay for various types of powerful individuals in the fantasy military.

You have various heroes that are essentially just soldiers but better in every way and will just not die. You have various flavors of wizards who want large sums of pay for their skill and taking them away from their research. Then you have various forms of intelligent monsters that you have either hired as mercenaries or incorporated into your empire.
 

Val the Moofia Boss

Well-known member
It would be interesting to get into the topic of pay for various types of powerful individuals in the fantasy military.

You have various heroes that are essentially just soldiers but better in every way and will just not die. You have various flavors of wizards who want large sums of pay for their skill and taking them away from their research. Then you have various forms of intelligent monsters that you have either hired as mercenaries or incorporated into your empire.

Really depends. How common are superpowerful people in the setting? How replaceable are they? How long (and at what expense) does it take to train up new ones? What are the values of their cultures?

If the high powerlevel warriors can wipe out huge swathes of armies, then war could become formalized and overall less bloody. Rather than waste thousands of soldiers in battles, you could just have two powerful soldiers duel it out, with the loser surrendering (because why bother sending thousands of men to their deaths?) just like that. If one warrior acts dishonorably and begins massacring the forces/people of the side that surrendered to him, the warriors of other countries may agree to team up to take him down. These high powerlevel warriors could attain high status in their countries as heroes or as nobles or kings. If a kingdom tries to invade another kingdom, their first and highest priority will be dealing with the other kingdom's powerful warriors, either by challenging them to duels, or by assassinating them. The consequences for losing the duel or botching the assassination would be very high, so kingdoms would rarely go to war with each other. There might be a lot of proxy wars with smaller nations.

If highpowerlevel warriors are rare, inevitably almost all of them are going to wind up aligned with one nation or another. Why bother with the insecurity of mercenary work for low level pay when you can settle down in a kingdom and enjoy security and adoration and wealth?


As for monsters, monster ecology is usually neglected in fantasy fiction. If monsters can reproduce very quickly and/or in large numbers (or maybe you can use growth hormones or alchemic concoctions to make them grow faster), then they would inevitably be tamed for use by militaries as expendable soldiers (like how robot armies are used in sci fi). So basically monster squads commanded by beastmasters. Could be very useful for small countries that are lacking in manpower compared to larger empires that have large populations to draw troops from.


Another question is occupation forces. Highpowerlevel warriors might be able to win on the battlefield by themselves, but one guy can't occupy an entire countryside, or even police a single a city. He can only be in one place at one time. You still need normal footsoldiers on the ground to compel people into paying their taxes, checking incoming cargo, arresting dissidents, etc. Similarly, if a country had armies of monsters, the monsters might only be useful on the battlefield. They would have to be extremely intelligent (and obedient) to be able to serve as occupational forces that can police cities and such.
 

Doomsought

Well-known member
If the high powerlevel warriors can wipe out huge swathes of armies, then war could become formalized and overall less bloody.
I think you are missing the foundation of warfare. Regular infantry exist to occupy a location and claim it as under control, every military unit exists to manipulate infantry either by helping your own infantry maneuver, preventing the movement of enemy infantry, or forcing the movement of enemy infantry.

This is not the only valid view of warfare, but it is an important one to keep in mind when calculating the algebra of warfare.

Combine that with the political aspect of warfare, you have several roles that super infantry can take.

They can act as champions for ritual duels as an alternative to battle. They could be interspersed with regular infantry to both act as officers and a counter to enemy super warriors. They could be used as assassins and infiltrators used to kill or hostage enemy political targets.

Likely, you will have all three roles fulfilled by them, with only variance in priority based on cultural norms.
 

BlackDragon98

Freikorps Kommandant
Banned - Politics
They can act as champions for ritual duels as an alternative to battle. They could be interspersed with regular infantry to both act as officers and a counter to enemy super warriors. They could be used as assassins and infiltrators used to kill or hostage enemy political targets.
Superhuman, magical race, or monster infantry (the heavy "tank" variety like orcs and lizard men) should be deployed in concentrated numbers such as a battalion and attached to regular units. Their main purpose would be to act as a spearhead/shock/assault unit and a force multiplier, much like the Schwere Panzer Abteilungs (heavy tank battalions) of the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS.

Werewolves can be used as infiltration forces and for night assaults to clear the way for main forces.

Elves and Drows work well as assassins and snipers.

Dwarves can be used as sappers for underground combat, though they would be better used in weapons factories, churning out high quality weaponry.

Frogmen (like Abe Sapien from Hellboy) and other amphibians are literal frogmen, and they can also be deployed as marines.

Winged races are the fantasy equivalent of parachute/glider infantry, used for air assault.
 

ATP

Well-known member
I think about using magic for ranging and communication.
Some mages who could control birds would find always both enemy and your troops,and you could always choose time and place of battle.
And potions.If they are cheap enough,you could turn your soldiers into supermans for duration of battle.
 

Bear Ribs

Well-known member
I can see why, with every fantasy system being different, it's hard to pin down anything, but this article series feels rather like it's a guide to AH rather than fantasy. There's almost no attention paid to how non-mundane-human non-horse units with different abilities will affect strategy or tactics and a lot spent on historical armor and weapons. It's not a bad series, it just doesn't seem like fantasy to me.
 

Aldarion

Neoreactionary Monarchist
I can see why, with every fantasy system being different, it's hard to pin down anything, but this article series feels rather like it's a guide to AH rather than fantasy. There's almost no attention paid to how non-mundane-human non-horse units with different abilities will affect strategy or tactics and a lot spent on historical armor and weapons. It's not a bad series, it just doesn't seem like fantasy to me.

Mostly because it is the basics that fantasy authors typically get wrong. I am planning at writing articles on specific fantasy creatures in the future, with this series as the basis, but that is still some time off.
 

ATP

Well-known member
If we have enough trolls/giants,then any conventional elite infrantry would be obsolate - they would die just quickly like average dudes.
Which probably mean,that elite infrantry would be made only from trolls/giants/ogres whatever,and thanks to heavy armour immune to any range attacks except ballista or fieldgun.
Human infrantry would be only used as cannonfodder.Range infrantry would become partially obsolate,too.
Well,elf archers would still be efficient since they could hit eyes from long range.
And since normal calvary could do nothing to our trolls,it would partially lost its uses,too.
 

Doomsought

Well-known member
If we have enough trolls/giants,then any conventional elite infrantry would be obsolate - they would die just quickly like average dudes.
Not at all, giants would still have a hard time with a pike formation in field combat, and are not any good for urban combat or occupation.
 

ATP

Well-known member
Not at all, giants would still have a hard time with a pike formation in field combat, and are not any good for urban combat or occupation.

Only giants without good armour.Gave them 1cm plate,and they could forget about pikes,arrows,bolts,swords and maces.
 

BlackDragon98

Freikorps Kommandant
Banned - Politics
Not at all, giants would still have a hard time with a pike formation in field combat, and are not any good for urban combat or occupation.
Neither are they effective in heavily wooded areas.
Mountains are alright, though ravines and gorges present good traps against giants.
 

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