Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Diplomat123" data-source="post: 3100518" data-attributes="member: 45627">I think the big change would be the quality of the troops.  In the real world the bulk of most armies before gunpowder was made up of levee troops who might have been farming the previous week and went into battle with some form of polearm and no armour (I know there were professional armies as well, but in most early cultures, most people worked on the land or you starved).  In a big group these levees could be fairly effective.  Once gunpowder became widely used battles were generally won by the side who could mass the most firepower at the vital point and wear the other side down before closing.  It wasn't until the end of the 19th century that the effect of artillery made the slow advance in a tight formation unworkable.In a magic world with just a few 5th level casters available low level troops would have very little value.  Never mind fireballs and the big stuff.  Try a cavalry charge when a druid casts entangle.  Should give the defending archers plenty of time for target practice.  Or a cause fear cast at a body of advancing 1st level fighters.  Only a small group may run from the spell, but if your buddies just turned tail and fled it is likely that the rest of the unit will panic from non magical fear.  There are a lot of low level spells that will wreck bodies of level troops.Effective forces will be relatively high level, with a lot of hitting power.  Individual heroes will dominate a battle in a way that has never happened in the real world.  Teleport / Dimension Door a few monks on top of the enemy wizards.  Make your high level rogue invisible and send him to kill the enemy general.  Use tamed flying creatures or magic to give you airborne cavalry to strike fast and unexpectedly.</blockquote>

Verification