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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CardinalXimenes" data-source="post: 4830748" data-attributes="member: 58259">I do think it's best to drop much effort to be historically realistic about medieval warfare. An enormous amount depends on where and when you're trying to simulate, and some basic military tropes just don't translate back from WWI very well.First off, medieval societies could not sustain a "total war" footing. The mass conscript armies of the WWI era, supplied by enormous logistical tails that reached back into every major population center, just did not happen. Actual logistics and financing could be surprisingly sophisticated, but they were sophisticated in the context of societies like England, where they balanced the yearly books by moving counters around on a checkerboarded table.This is not to say that attempts weren't made to fully mobilize the populace. Indeed, the essentially tribal character of a lot of Dark Age societies contributed to an archaic conception of a general muster involving all able-bodied men, especially those who held land and property. This archaic principle rapidly decayed into payment in money or goods in place of men, because the confused mob of peasants, townsmen, and nobility produced by a general muster was of extremely limited use on the battlefield, to say nothing of the economic damage caused in a society that simply did not have the productivity excess to support such a percentage of its population doing non-productive work.Carolingian edicts were issued insisting that every man who presented himself for the muster must have a helmet, a spear, and a jack, but even that proved too much in some cases. Royal orders insisted that arriving with nothing but a staff or club was not sufficient. Eventually, the funds and goods provided in place of military service went to finance the maintenance of smaller corps of professional soldiers, though there were always variations among places and times.If you really want conscript armies bloodletting each other in endless siege warfare, you're probably best off short-circuiting the historical progression that turned the muster into scutage-money. Perhaps magic provides unusual productivity for the nations, allowing large percentages of its population to spend their time killing each other. Perhaps the borders are heavily fortified, with castles, manors, and other hard points that have to be reduced if an enemy army is to penetrate into the soft interior. Honestly, I'd be surprised if your players ever noticed if you just did it this way even without any magical explaination.If you want info for the flavor of medieval warfare, I'd recommend Philippe Contamine's "War in the Middle Ages". It's a little dry at points, but it covers the evolution of mass musters into paid soldiery quite well, and gives a lot of useful detail on specific weaponry, armor, and tactics. Marc Bloch's "Feudal Society" series is another great read; it's a little dated in some places, but there's a reason it's such a classic.</blockquote>

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