[Mkguild] Hypothetical Discussions on the Metamor Army

[Michael Bard]

>I posted those pictures as points of discussion, since they were but
recommendations from Kamau who
>has a hobby with all things medieval. (referring to the 400'x900' Killing
Grounds)

Hmm...  *starts sharpening her alicorn*  Them sound like fightin' words!

Okay, *cracks knuckles*, lets let the ancient and MEDIEVAL miniature
wargamer get to work here!

1. Metamor Army size.

I have been told that the population of the valley is 15,000 souls.  Nobody
has debated that number yet.  Assuming it is correct...
~5,000 are actual children
Of the 10,000 adults
~3400 are animal people (all able to bear arms), ~3400 are TGed (all able to
bear arms), and ~3400 are children (not able to bear arms -- there can be
exceptions, hence the slight round up).

This gives us a maximum call up army size of roughly 6800 individuals.
Let's call it 7,000 just to be round.  It can be fiddled with depending on
the accepted ratio of children, but I can't see it going above 10,000 due to
the AR component of hte curse.  Let's just see where 7,000 takes us.

2. Medieval Army Ranks and Spacing.

Through many years of historical miniature development, as basing scale has
been derived that assumes a density of fighting men consistent with
historical training manuals.  There are three orders:

Close Order: Dense, close ranked guys.  15 paces or 38' frontage, ~48 men 4
ranks deep, 12 ranks wide.  Individual frontage per man on the order of 3'
per guy (or gal).  Spear, Pike, Halbardeers, some archers

Loose Order: Middle of the road, more skirmishes than main front rank
troops, but not light troops.  20 paces or 50' frontage, ~48 men 4 ranks
deep, 12 ranks wide.  Individual frontage per man on the order of 4.5' per
guy (or gal).  Less well drilled Spear, or elites with a more flexible
formation to deal with terrain, Longbowmen.

Light/Open Order: Unordered loose groups of men in permanent skirmish
formation.  Basically how the Keepers would operate.  30 paces or 75'
frontage, ~48 men 4 ranks deep, 12 ranks wide.  Individual frontage per man
on the order of 6.25' per guy (or gal).  Generally unarmoured skirmishers.

Note: This are approximations.  Loose order and Light order would tend to
have further men per group.  But, these are good rule of thumb numbers.

A typical late medieval army consists of peasant levies of pike, halbard,
spear, or similar weapons.  Ranks were typically 8 deep, drilled in close
order.  Crossbow would also tend to be close, as would regular bow for
density of fire.  Longbow were loose due to space required for the weapon.
Open order woiuld be slingers, light throwing spear skirmishes, and similar.
The "shock" wing of the army would be knights.  Depending on the state there
might be light mounted archers, skimirish LC, and all kinds of other toys.
There were generally some loose order shock troops (spear etc.) for mobility
and to take and hold terrain.

This is all without magic or terrain.

Given that the Metamor ARmy has to fight in fairly dense terrain, and has to
deal with MAGIC, I would propose that the basic order is LOOSE.  close order
is just BEGGING for ridiculous casualties from a fireball or similar spell.
And, from what I've read, there seems no shortage of combat capable mages
around Metamor.

3. How much space does the entire MK army take?

This is the point.  We have 7,000 levies in loose order as the called up
militia.  The Keepers are, what, maybe 500?  Their numbers are so
comparatively small that they won't accept the base frontage much.  Of
course, if their numbers are higher, let me know.

7,000 levies, ranked 8 deep armed with spear, pike, bow, halbard, or
whatever.  That gives us 875 columns of guys (or gals).  Loose order, they
take 4.5' each, for a total frontage of roughly 3940'.  Or, about 2/3rds of
a mile.  Depth, for what is is worth, is about 4.5/guy or 36' per column.

This works out to 141,000 square feet.

The large size of the Killing Grounds is roughly 400'x900' or  360,000
square feet.  Twice what is needed to muster the entire hypothetical army.
The one I have currently, roughly 400x400 or 160,000 square feet, is just
large enough to muster the entire hypotehtical muster.  Still fits in the
Killing Grounds.

If you go with close order, then there is much more room.

Michael Bard