War, Militia and Paying Soldiers

Militia

What is a Militia?

A militia is little more than a peasant pressed into military service as required by their noble. These are all the military age boys and men, from age 15-45. Historically woman did not participate, however in Belkar they do, it is just uncommon (20% of militia are woman)

These peasant warriors have little to no training, and would rather not be wherever they are. This means if a battle turns against them, they are quick to flee.

Equipment of Militia

The equipment of militia is exactly what you would think of peasant warriors to have access too. A farmer might have a flax thrasher, a baker takes his rolling pin to use as a club.

Many might use what savings they have to buy a spear before they go,

Many peasants will wear no armour, just their every day clothes. Some wealthier farmers or shopkeepers might have a padded cloth gambisons. By the time a merchant can afford chain mail, he can pay somebody else to fight on his behalf, and so only the poor are drafted.

Pay when in service

Nobles must compensate this labour force of fighters the same as they would hire a mason or stable master. Typically 1 silver coin per week is what is allotted.

This is very expensive for the noble house, as these peasants no longer generate tax revenue, and instead must be paid.

Conversely the pay is so little peasants could almost starve to death on the wages- luckily food is provided on campaign.

Prolonged can be ruinous to even the wealthiest in Belkar.

Limits of Service

As previously mentioned the militia members are not soldiers. So these people don’t want to fight, they want to get back to whatever their lives were before all this drafting business. Bringing militia on a military camping for a full season (spring summer and fall) will certainly make them unhappy, 2 seasons and they will be openly hostile, 3 seasons and you are looking at peasant revolt.

With the farmers on campaign fields will not be planted in time, harvests meagre and food shortage common. Peasants might be willing to go hungry for a season to protect their homes, but for 3 years in a row, they will need a new noble.

Roughly 10% of a labour force can be pressed into service without collapsing. So for example the town of Seafall, has 2000 inhabitants. 200 of those could be pressed into service within a day. Additionally 20,000 live in the farms around Seafall, so 2,000 could be pressed into service if given a month to prepare.

Professional Soldiers

Noble Bodyguards

These are professional retainers and city soldiers. These men and woman are well equipped (relative to peasants). They train and drill with their equipment, which makes them a very large step up from peasants.

However as the cost of these soldiers is high, almost all noble houses uses these retainers as city guards as well. Only the Oathkeeper Cavaliers and Lions Guard Cataphracts do not patrol cities.

Roughly 1% of a cities population is trained and retained, but in a real fight, these soldiers are worth their weight in gold.

Sell Swords

Sell sword mercenaries are in the business of war, so anytime war breaks out, you can expect a flood of mercenaries into the area.

Wealthier nobles might prefer to hire some good mercenaries rather than press peasants into service, or simply maybe the noble houses don’t trust the peasants not to flee at the first sign of trouble.

Quality and pay for sell swords can vary wildly from little more than bandits with stolen leather armour at 3 silver a week to drop outs from a military academy armed with plate, mail, warhorse and years of training earning 5 or even 10 silver a week

The key thing to remember is that mercenaries bring their own equipment and specialize in a type of fighting. Cavalry bands will all be mounted for example, or archers come with bows. No mercenary captain will take on a soldier that can’t fight in the way the company fights.

Mercenary companies vary in size, but it would be rare to find companies more than 100,

If a noble house needs more than that, they will simply hire multiple, sometimes dozens of companies at a time for a short period.

Also sellsword work can pay extremely well for good fighters, so it is not uncommon to find a distant cousin of a noble house leading a mercenary company.