Size of an army?

[S'mon]

Warrior-caste trained from childhood (knights, samurai) will be Fighters instead of Warriors.

 

[Old One]

Huge variance...depending on the look/feel of the campaign and cultures you are replicating. For instance:

Ancient Greece, Local Battles:

• 2-3,000 hoplite warriors (warrior 2-3), fighting in a phalanx 8-12 men deep, center of battle line
• 500-1,000 peltasts (javilen-armed skirmishers, warrior 1 or expert 1), break up enemy formation with missile fire, harass flanks
• 500 archers/slingers (warrior 1 or expert 1), as peltasts
• 250-500 cavalry (warrior 1 or 2), designed to harass/protect flanks and pursuit

Alexander's Invasion Force:

• 20,000 hoplite warriors (warrior 2)
• 3,000 elite hypaspist hoplites (warrior 3)
• 4,000 cavalry (warrior 2)
• 2,000 elite Companion cavalry (warrior 4), shock cavalry to break enemy lines
• 11,000 peltasts (warrior 1 or expert 1)
• 2,000 archers/slingers (warrior 1 or expert 1)

Late Republican Legion:

• 4,800 legionnaires, organized into 10 cohorts of 480 men each, with each cohort being subdivided into 6 maniples of 80 men each (warrior 1-3, depending on experience). The maniple typically fought on a 10-man front (8 deep).
• A legionnary army might consist of 4 legions, plus 2-3,000 skirmishers/archers/slingers and 2,000 cavalry.

Opponents at Agincourt (c. 1415):

• English - 5,000 archers (warrior 2-3) and 900 knights/men-at-arms (warrior 3-4)
• French - 20-30,000 total, with ~ 10,000 knights/men-at-arms (warrior 2-3), ~10,000 supporting infantry/peasant levies (commoner 1 or expert 1 or warrior 1) and ~ 5,000 Genoese crossbowman (expert 1 or expert 2).

Lots of variation, depending on what you are trying to accomplish. Here are a couple of sites:

Greek Warfare

Roman History/Warfare

Medieval Warfare from a war-gaming perspective

Hope these help...

~ OO

 

[kanithardm]

By the way, what classes/levels should the soldiers be? I was thinking about Commoner-1 for a really low-quality conscript (especially in my Steampunk campaign - where muskets make these conscripts marginally effective); Warrior-1 for an avarage-quality soldier; Fighter-1 for a good quality soldier; and Fighter-2 for professional soldiers. Elite troops will be around Fighter-4; higher levels will be the equivalent of special forces, or veteran NCOs. Officers, atleast the good ones, will have several levels of Expert on them - with skills such as Knowledge (tactics) and so on.

I would use Commoner-1 for a conscript, warrior-1 for most soldiers, fighter levels for proffesional quality and other classes would form elite units.

 

[RandomPrecision]

I think it's extremely relative. In the Peloponesian Wars (I'm sure I didn't spell that correctly), Athenian conscripts would probably be Commoner-1's, but Spartan conscripts would be Warrior-1's, due to cultural differences. Otherwise, I'd agree with everything suggested by the former posters, although I don't think every army has archers in front. In a large combat, you don't need to be able to fire straight across - in fact, shields discourage this. Shooting arrows in an arc hits the enemy from an angle, and with a large army, your chances of hitting someone are pretty good.

 

[S'mon]

In the Peloponesian Wars (I'm sure I didn't spell that correctly), Athenian conscripts would probably be Commoner-1's, but Spartan conscripts would be Warrior-1's, due to cultural differences.

Heh - I thought I was pretty low-powered in my stat assignments! What do you think Persian peasant levies would be then, Com minus 5?

Given that Athenian citizen hoplites were trained warriors from a highly martial society I'd put them at minimum War-1, many would be War 2+. You could put Sparteatei at War 3+ but given that they were raised from birth to be the ultimate fighting machines of their age it would be reasonable to make them Fighter class, with Peroeci auxiliaries as Warrior 1-2s comparable to Athenians, and Helot levies as Commoners.

Edit: Given that Athenian citizen hoplites wore breastplate armour, with a large shield and long spear in 1 hand, I don't think Com-1s even have the Feats to replicate that!

 

[Thanee]

The Silver Marches FR sourcebook has some writeups of army sizes and also some composition, I think, for all the major cities in the region. That could also be a good place to look for information.

Generally, I'd say, that the vast majority is made of low-level foot warriors, a smaller amount is mounted, mostly light cavalry, then some elite regiments made of fighters, rangers and/or scouts with a few spellcasters (mostly clerics, sorcerers, wizards and warmages) among them, they also have some heavy cavalry, which would be trained knights.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Shades of Green]

By the way, when did the modern form of organization (i.e. Squad=>Section=>Platoon=>Company=>Battalion and so on) and the modern rank structure come into being?

 

[S'mon]

AIR the modern form in Europe developed in the 18th century, with a precursor in Cromwell's 17th century "New Model Army", the first truly post-feudal army. OTOH the modern Platoon > Company > Battalion system is based pretty closely off the Roman Imperial model, with Centuries forming Cohorts forming Legions. Likewise the split between Noncommissioned and Commissioned officers. Systems have tended to become more top-heavy over time, with smaller base units, more officers and more gradations of officer. The smallest independently acting Roman unit would be the Cohort of typically 300 or so legionaries, the closest modern equivalent would be the Platoon of 30-40. A Roman Century of typically 60-80 men was more like a modern Squad or Section of 8-12.