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<blockquote data-quote="NojBad" data-source="post: 2345793" data-attributes="member: 20648">In his Lejendary Earth sourcebook NOBLE KINGS &amp; DARK LANDS Gary Gygax gives figures for the armed forces of each kingdom.&nbsp; The first % is the total number of armed individuals in the land who, in theory at least, could be called upon to provide military service.&nbsp; This figure ranges from 5-8% for the feudal kingdoms of Varan, most are in the 5-6% range.&nbsp; The next % is the number of regular soldiers and is usually given as 1% of the population.&nbsp; Lastly the number of mounted troops is given, ranging from 5-20% of the total.In answer to an unexpected threat I would imagine that most rulers would only be able to field their standing force of regular soldiery and whatever levies could be mustered from the immediate area of the invasion.&nbsp; As someone has noted castles and fortified towns will slow up the enemy's rate of advance significantly and hopefully allow a larger force to be mustered so the enemy can be repelled.Given that borders, etc. must be defended then at the very best I would estimate that 2/3 of a kingdom's armed forces could be brought together for battle but logistic problems, particularly the problem of feeding such a large force, might make doing so impossible.&nbsp; Gathering such a large force would take a long time and it could only be kept in the field briefly, perhaps only long enough to fight one large engagement.As feudal lords keep an armed retinue I would estimate that c.2.5% of an 'average' fantasy feudal-type nation could muster quite quickly and, depending upon the size of the kingdom and the state of its road/river communications, arrive at a muster point in 2-3 weeks but that is just a guess on my part.Cheers!Jon</blockquote>

[QUOTE="NojBad, post: 2345793, member: 20648"] In his Lejendary Earth sourcebook NOBLE KINGS & DARK LANDS Gary Gygax gives figures for the armed forces of each kingdom. The first % is the total number of armed individuals in the land who, in theory at least, could be called upon to provide military service. This figure ranges from 5-8% for the feudal kingdoms of Varan, most are in the 5-6% range. The next % is the number of regular soldiers and is usually given as 1% of the population. Lastly the number of mounted troops is given, ranging from 5-20% of the total. In answer to an unexpected threat I would imagine that most rulers would only be able to field their standing force of regular soldiery and whatever levies could be mustered from the immediate area of the invasion. As someone has noted castles and fortified towns will slow up the enemy's rate of advance significantly and hopefully allow a larger force to be mustered so the enemy can be repelled. Given that borders, etc. must be defended then at the very best I would estimate that 2/3 of a kingdom's armed forces could be brought together for battle but logistic problems, particularly the problem of feeding such a large force, might make doing so impossible. Gathering such a large force would take a long time and it could only be kept in the field briefly, perhaps only long enough to fight one large engagement. As feudal lords keep an armed retinue I would estimate that c.2.5% of an 'average' fantasy feudal-type nation could muster quite quickly and, depending upon the size of the kingdom and the state of its road/river communications, arrive at a muster point in 2-3 weeks but that is just a guess on my part. Cheers! Jon [/QUOTE]

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