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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kevin O'Reilly" data-source="post: 811517" data-attributes="member: 8692">Levies and Household GuardMedieval warfare, and armies, didn't really comprise of standing armies battling. Even as lat as Vietnam, the US did not truely have a standing army, but rather conscription.A medieval period army would be comprised of Household Guard (paid soldiers, often mercenaries); Noble Volunteers hoping to gain land through glorious conflict; and the Fueudal Levy, the classic "if they don;t fight for me I throw them off their land." A lord could look for about 45 days service from each houselhold holding to a Feudal Levy; The household guard would cost 2sp per warrior level per day (DMG), while a noble volunteer might fight for a year for free. The DMG tables give a good rough idea of the available levels by population density.On a different note Sun Tzu, feudal japan, seems to indicat 1 in 7 families would provide a soldier, and with family populations from 5-7, this seems to indicate 2-3% of the population.Of course in situations like siege and "young man" could be put to fight (Helms Deep), douyling the available troops</blockquote>