Everything But The Stabby Stuff: Raising Your Armies
The different ways to handle raising armies and their impact on your polity
Background
Axioms is a fantasy game not a historical one, although you could make historical scenarios with the modding capabilities. However it does try to enable a lot of real world developments. You *could* represent any historical society, you just don’t get perfect matches organically because it is a simulation.
My goal was to break down lots of iconic real world examples of the mechanics into their constituent parts. So there is a very expansive set of simple options for diplomatic actions which when combined can represent medieval feudal vassals, Persian satrapies, the Roman Socii, Chinese Tributaries, and so forth. You could even do American states or the HRE style electors and princes. And of course religion is broken down and then integrated with secular diplomacy and politics as well.
Similarly Axioms accounts for a variety of methods for raising troops including the historical Greek, Roman, Habsburgian, and Chinese systems and not just the methods of feudalism, tribalism, and centralized states. It is somewhat difficult to explain this without delving into other parts of the game because systems are so integrated.
Mercenaries
We’ll start off with some basic popular military models. Mercenaries are troops raised by individual characters with some pay but often the promise of a share of spoils. Depending on the nature of the unit mercenaries can be anywhere from 4-5 characters to thousands represented by population to any combination and number in between.
Small groups of characters can pursue an adventuring career, form specialized magical mercenary subunits or engage in a variety of other activities. Under the Axioms model mages and commanders are very valuable and generally protected rather than fighting out on the front lines. Military forces will often retreat if the situation is grim.
Military forces can also draw from populations. Basically a chunk of “Population” is transfered from a “Province” “Population” to an “Army” “Unit”. “Units” can be provide “Creatures” to ride or otherwise manage. This is how cavalry or houndmasters or something would work. Pack and food animals are stored in the “Supply” of a “Unit” as is non-military gear. “Equipment” “Items” are stored in the “Equipment” of a “Unit”. As discussed in an earlier post “Populations” have a more limited set of “Equipment” compared to “Characters” and this is not attached to them specifically but to their “Unit”.
Mercenaries would typically bring their own “Supplies” and “Equipment” with them although you can supplement it if you like as can other “Characters”. Advanced mages are typically “Characters” but basic limited repertoire mages are represented by “Populations”. The “Race” of a “Population” generally determines their magical “Aptitudes”. “Characters” are more open to variance.
Levies
Many states from the Bronze Age on practiced some form of levy system including the Babylonian Empire. Many of these levy systems served the same function as Roman or Greek citizenship. That is that all those who held land were required to serve and often you could receive land for service as well as other rights.
Feudal levies were generally a requirement in feudal contracts from vassals to their liege. You would be required to provide knights but also supplies and infantry and so forth.
Slave Soldiers
Most people are probably aware of this practice due to the popularity of a certain fantasy television series. While the show of course exaggerated things to some degree the basic idea is accurate. Slave soldiers were especially popular in the Middle East because you could justify taking the children from their parents due to religion. They could also be purchased from slave traders. Young men would be raised with the ruler as their “father” or something similar and they’d be loyal to their master because they had no social or political power. Of course these systems often broke down after a while and resulted in large and powerful revolts.
Citizen Armies
These were popular among the Greeks, Romans, and Cathiginians. The Roman system was distinct and superior in a way that resulted from the surrounding culture but even the Romans started with citizen hoplites. These were often supplemented with mercenaries though moreso outside of Rome.
Tribal Armies
Many less sedentary and less economically unequal societies like tribal populations didn’t really have levies. They had warbands and tribal confederations based on a much more interpersonal model. Freeman had far more choice about the actions they would engage in and who they would follow.
Holy Warriors
One obvious and sometimes more cost/resource efficient strategy is to motivate people with non-economic benefits. Zealots from the European holy orders to the middle eastern ghazi could sometimes be engaged in a campaign in such a way as to conserve resources. Although sometimes they operated similarly to mercenaries.
Military Organization In Axioms
In Axioms you can assign right and responsibilities based on alarge variety of factors though to some degree whether this achieves anything is based on your authority. Laws and traditions can target religion, race, social status, wealth, relationships and location as well as a variety of other factors.
Axioms tracks the fulfillment of “Oaths”, “Vows”, and even less formal “Promises” or “Commitments”. So if you say you will arrange state land for the troops you had better do it or reap the consequences. Any “Character” with authority over “Provinces” or “Populations” can make “Agreements” in order to achieve goals. Well any “Character” can but landless non-leaders would have to employ their own personal resources.
All of your choices regarding your military structure will cascade into the rest of your society. Short term or even long term military decisions can raise up and then cast down your polity as they did to the Romans and the Ottomans.
The next design post is going to talk about something closely related to military affairs but not enough to be included in the EBTSS series. We’re going to talk about populations, territory, and who rules over them and how.