Gregor Relak's Collected Essays and Lectures on Leadership and Governance/The Basics
Troop Unit: Basics
A leader must understand what is available to them. All too often the common nobleman will simply select the biggest looking brutes and call them a unit. This quite simply is not a good way to go about leading men. When in the capital and recruiting it is wise to understand first what one is looking at. Every man available came from one of the regions in the realm. In these regions are recruitment centers. This is where they are initially trained, and equipped. All men come out roughly equal from these places so we will not quibble on the individual characteristics of men, but instead discuss the three main attributes they possess. Morale, Training, Equipment, and Cohesion.
Their morale is exactly identical to that of their home region. Their training is a measure of how well they fight as a unit, how good they are at using their weapon, and what it will take to make them break and run. Training in its course then effects how added numbers of men will decrease the overall increase in estimated combat strength of a unit. For example adding 10 men of a low training will increase combat strength by 100, whereas higher trained 120. If we added 20 men you might only get 180 from the lesser trained and 235 from the better trained unit. In essence you get more for your money with better training. Equipment is broken down into two values, offensive equipment, and defensive equipment. The better the offensive equipment the more hits they will do. The better the defensive equipment the more hits it takes to wound/kill a man. Cohesion is a new modifier of your men's combat effectiveness. It is in effect a measure of their ability to fight together. The more they know one another, and the more that they have trained together the more cohesive they will be. Cohesion is an often undervalued measure of your men, it is wise to train them together to raise this value. As a general rule the better trained and better equipped men are more expensive. Only training and cohesion can be increased, never equipment so keep this in mind later when we discuss unit maintenance.
All unit types have these values in common. However, there are differences between the many unit types. Infantry can engage in close combat exclusively. Mixed Infantry carry with them some slings or crossbows, and will attack their enemy at range before engaging in close combat. Archers are almost useless against infantry in close combat, but deadly at range; especially against massed troops (very large units/units arrayed in a box). Calvary are unique in that their ability to charge and inflict more damage as a multiplier of their usual damage is dependent on their training and equipment. It is still believed that they can do up to three times their normal damage if training and equipment were close to 100%.
Troop Unit: Maintenance
By now you should have a unit of some men, perhaps infantry or archers. With a fighting group following behind you there are several things one must consider. The most important of these is of course payment. Men fighting far afield will never accept bonds, only golds. Keep this in mind when setting off from a city. It is usually recommended that you keep enough golds to pay your men for a week or two; those who tell you otherwise are foolish, and are setting up your realm for disaster. Besides they can't really know how much gold you kept in reserve now can they? Units expect to be paid every five days, you can string them along for a while if they have good morale, or a high cohesion, but eventually their morale will fall to the point where they will simply rob you of what you have and walk off. Of course if your men love you and are wholly devoted to you it has not been unheard of that they will go for 10 days without being paid. Not that one should ever consider doing such for sport, for if they do walk off you will lose honor. Another thing to consider is that even dead men are paid, if they fall in battle their consorts or wives will collect the golds to feed their children till they can sell them off to a tradesmen. Bear this in mind if you think suiciding your men will do you financial situation any good, because it won't; honor demands that all debts be paid.
In a previous lecture I probably hinted that simply paying your men is not all that you must do. No, far from it, for equipment gets damaged, morale is hurt, and sometimes you are forced to recruit a unit that is less than desirable. There are ways to fix, combat, or generally negate all of these things. In no particular order they are visiting a blacksmith, a cheery pub, or even the exercise yard.
For every point of damage to a man's sword, or his armor, there is a blacksmith (generally only found in cities) who given enough time and golds will repair damage to your mens equipment. The number of men you have, the equipment quality, and the level of equipment all factors into how much time it will take, and how many golds he will charge to repair your equipment. As damage accumulates your men's effectiveness at fighting diminishes. So take every opportunity to repair. As a general rule do not let your damage get much over 35-40 as your men are probably fighting with long sticks of rust. Most generals will want to keep you in the field for much longer. Unless you can honestly see the reason why to stay don't, doctor a report and go back to the city. Now of course, after many a great battle some people will have died, leaving behind that beautiful sword you admired shortly before you chopped the unlucky sods arm off. You are capable of searching a battlefield (assuming you did not retreat or were defeated), for that beautiful sword, or any other equipment. This will generally lower your damage by a healthy 4-5%, but as many other leaders do so, the pickings become slim and it isn't worth your time anymore. So if you have a habit of being late, don't bother searching.
Unit morale is a tricky business. It falls when nobody dies in battle, falls because they get homesick for their beds, or their wives, and is generally fairly fickle. The more you make men work the more it will fall. Now to refresh your men's spirits all you must do is visit a friendly bar, whore-house, or whatever passes for entertainment. It is a little known secret that some units prefer one type of entertainment over another. I myself have had a good hunch as to what determines it. When you first recruit a new unit see where they are coming from. Cities might prefer the drunken brawls, and whoring of a city, whereas a country boy might prefer the rough-quayside bar he grew up with. Ponder this over if you will. Keep a record of who likes what, and you'll have yourself saving a few golds and hours. Be wary of how far you journey from your own realm's boarders. For unless you are paying them a mercenaries wages they will grow angry and their morale will drop like an anvil on Doc's foot, though that story is for another time. If you were wondering, because I see you all furiously searching your notes, a mercenary is paid 1.5x as much as a normal unit.
I discussed briefly about training, and cohesion. There are two ways to raise this. The first is in battle, and the second is by paying time to rent a wide yard and doing it yourself. It is generally recommended to not bother. Unless there is peace, and you have been training as a leader (leadership skill) you will do little that most do not already know. However, if you are headstrong have golds to waste, and generally find it amusing to make men sweat; feel free to torment your men. Light training does little, unless what you have is barely above the rabble of the peasantry. Heavy training is often the best, as you will get generally both a small increase in training, and cohesion. Be wary of falling morale though, give them a break after you work them like dogs. They will come to appreciate you more if you are understanding of their needs. While this may also seem like instructions for treating ones mistress, it is not, so please young noblemen, act and think more as a noble should.
Troop Unit: Settings
When ordering your men and arraying them for war and battle there are several factors one must consider. The first is your unit designation. Are your men simply part of a main army, or are they mercenaries who will venture far from your boarders. In choosing this you decide how much your men will have to be paid, how much damage their equipment will suffer, and in the case of sentries how well they will fight within your realm's boarders. Generally speaking, the most expensive units are mercenaries, but they can travel far afield without complaining about the distances they have traveled from the capital. Next would be the vanguard who travel lightly, and thus suffer greater equipment damage; though their base pay is the same as the regular army to the best of my knowledge. Little used is the sentries designation, though great generals have won critical battles by ordering for their designation. It is important to note that the designation of your unit can only be changed on the same day as they have been paid.
Additionally, you can order your men to take up various formations before entering combat. It is advisable when facing large units of cavalry that you order your infantry to box, or as cavalry to never use a box, but to use Wedge or Line. Archers are best used as skirmishers, or lines. Largely this will depend upon the composition of your enemies, and is something that you are better off asking your marshal about if you are unsure.
