Saturday, November 12, 2016

Lord of the Manor - Sample Army - Bombastia

(This is a continuation of my thoughts about a mapless Medieval campaign supporting tactical medieval rules, such as Chainmail.  This is the first version of the random generation of lands and troops.)

This is a partner article to the one on the army of Poppenheim.   As mentioned previously, Bombastia is the other medieval state that was part of pre-modern Furstenberg. It was often at war with Poppenheim, even into the early modern period, when the 1696 Crisis of the Pumpkin-King Throne between the Principality of Bombastia and the Grand Duchy of Poppenheim would lead to the Unification Wars of Furstenberg (ending up establishing the modern state of Furstenberg).  But, as early as the 11th century, and on up until the 18th, the two states were often at war with each other.
So, relying on the Lord of the Manor system, lets take a look at what the medieval state of Bombastia looked like, and what the army looked like.

First, the chief Manor of Bombastia is at Hofbrau Burg, and the ancestral feudal duty of the Hofbrauen means that the army of Bombastia starts out with a unit of Knights and a unit of Crossbow.
Hofbrau Berg

The other lands that make up the Demesne of Bombastia are as follows:

  • Four farmlands, which the player chooses to provide 3 Spearman units, and 1 unit of mounted Sergeants.
  • Two forests, which the player chooses to provide 2 units of Archers.
  • One town, which provides 1 unit of Billmen, and 100 bezants.
  • One Church, which the player decides to tithe 100 bezants, and gains the use of 1 unit of Holy Order Knights.
  • Two Highlands, which the player chooses to provide 1 unit of Highland Pike, and 1 unit of Reivers.
  • One Orchard, which provides the player with 1 unit of Men at Arms, and 100 bezants.

This means that the army of the Demesne of Bombastia consists of:

1 unit of Knights (9 figures, heavy horse, lance)
1 unit of Holy Order Knights (9 figures, heavy horse, lance)
1 unit of Sergeants (9 figures, medium horse)
1 unit of Reivers (9 figures, medium horse, lance)
3 units of Spearmen (18 figures, heavy foot)
1 unit of Billmen (18 figures, heavy foot, polearms)
1 unit of Men at Arms (18 figures, armored foot)
1 unit of Highland Pike (18 figures, light infantry, pike)
2 units of Archers (12 figures, light infantry, long bow)
1 unit of Crossbowmen (18 figures, light infantry, crossbow)

And the player has access to 200 bezants, but spends 100 of it to secure the unit of Holy Order Knights, from the local Church.

This is a very good army, but the player might be eager to either conquer the Towns or the Port that the Poppenheim player has, to balance out the money situation - very lopsided, at 600 bezants (Poppenheim) to only 200 bezants (Bombastia).

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