Armies and Navies

In the ancient world and to some degree parts of the world until the 19th century, there were few full-time standing armies. Settlements were expected to provide a certain number of troops when called upon to do so for a limited season of campaigning. Once the campaign was over, it was fully expected the soldiers would return to their homes and farms.

One of the last things I did in the last post was to determine how many units a settlement could provide and how many units the settlement could pull together as a militia. The next step is to determine where these units assemble to form armies and how large the army should be. Most battles from antiquity to some even today consisted of a center mass of units with units on a left wing, units on a right wing, and units in reserve. The size of these formations and their use depended on the commanders’ understanding of their mission, the terrain and timing.

Now to accommodate this model I came up with a paper strength of each city-state’s armed forces. For Latona, I decided on an average army strength of 40 units. The militaristic nature of Nycenae sees the average size of an army at 50 units. Asteria, on the other hand, is a sea-faring nation and values mobility, so the size of their armies averages around 30 units. Again, these are paper strength sizes, not the actual number of units a general may have at her disposal when contact is made with the enemy.

The next thing to do, was to determine where the armies are located. I decided that to support a large encampment of troops, the camp should be located near a town or city and not any of the smaller settlements.

Finally, I assigned the army commanders and the Commander Competency Rating (CCR). The CCR is used not only to determine how well the commander leads her army, but also how well she responds to terrain, weather, orders from superiors, etc. Once a tabletop game is called for, the CCR is translated into Rep (CCR 1-2 = Rep 3; CCR 3-4 = Rep 4; CCR 5-6 = Rep 5).

Here are the tables of the available armies for the campaign:

Latonan Armies

Army	Commander	Competency Rating	# Of Units	Base
Red Army	Doris	Excellent (5)	40	Clephaodora [12]
Yellow Army	Koritto	Superb (6)	44	Gion Cho [7]
Green Army	Aglaurus	Average (4)	44	Nurroda [34]
Black Army	Lois	Excellent (5)	40	Sogoth [19]
White Army	Hellanike	Average (4)	44	Ourasca [31]
Blue Army	Trypheno	Average (4)	31	Acleia [48]

Nycenaean Armies

Army	Commander	Competency Rating	# Of Units	Base
4th Army	Pelopia	Inept (1)	50	Ilthiasza [110]
3rd Army	Adeia	Poor (2)	50	Hioreiytie [143]
6th Army	Maera	Average (3)	46	Prildia [161]
5th Army	Charis	Average (3)	47	Veoyle [159]
1st Army	Theophania	Superb (6)	56	Nica [180]
2nd Army	Dorothea	Superb (6)	57	Nironeira [172]
7th Army	Kore	Excellent (5)	35	Ogea [158]

Asterian Armies

Army	Commander	Competency Rating	# Of Units	Base
Alpha	Briseis	Superb (6)	35	Asteria [58]
Beta	Alcestis	Average (3)	43	Bropheleia [65]
Gamma	Iola	Excellent (5)	31	Clouda [63]
Delta	Nemerte	Average (3)	31	Bremusa [90]
Epsilon	Jocasta	Excellent (5)	32	Gaithoe [106]
Zeta	Agapia	Poor (2)	34	Bliyme [105]
Eta	Maera	Excellent (5)	30	Exudia [101]
Theta	Caleope	Superb (6)	40	Dundadice [99]
Iota	Podarge	Poor (2)	27	Piathoe [72]

Sea Power

Here I turn to one of my weaknesses as a gamer. In this hobby, I must admit that I enjoy painting figures a bit more than playing the games. This means I have limited experience and knowledge in the use of ships, vehicles, and aircraft. However, it makes sense that if you live on an island, the sea plays a part of your life. My efforts to make the three city-states of Valkae interesting and different from one another extends to their use of the sea. Otherwise, I just have games of angry women with pointy sticks.

Latona’s Navy

I’ll start with Latona. Latona does not have much in the means of an organized navy. The witch queen actively promotes piracy and raiding. As such, their ships are small and fast, mostly biremes with their largest warships being the trireme. Latona also does not have large ports or harbors.

Flotilla	Commander	Comp. Rating	Ships	Home Port
A	Oreithyia	Excellent (5)	Trireme Sqdn. Bireme Sqdn. Hemiolia Sqdn. Small Transports	Sogoth [19]
B	Laodameia	Poor (2)	Trireme Sqdn. Bireme Sqdn. Hemiolia Sqdn. Small Transports	Acleia [48]
C	Amarhyllis	Average (4)	Trireme Sqdn. Bireme Sqdn. Small Transports	Scykises [51]
D	Neaera	Inept (1)	Trireme Sqdn. Bireme Sqdn. Small Transports	Clephaodora [12]
E	Lanike	Excellent (5)	Trireme Sqdn. Bireme Sqdn. Small Transports	Gion Cho [7]
F	Alcippe	Average (4)	Trireme Sqdn. Bireme Sqdn. Small Transports	Nurroda [34]
G	Leucothoe	Average (3)	Trireme Sqdn. Bireme Sqdn. Small Transports	Juugone [2]
H	Scylla	Average (3)	Trireme Sqdn. Bireme Sqdn. Small Transports	Gruce [18]
I	Canace	Poor (2)	Trireme Sqdn. Bireme Sqdn.	Teichruyme [32]
J	Nephele	Average (3)	Trireme Sqdn. Bireme Sqdn.	Kruicyra [5]

Nycenaean Fleet

Nycenae has built a good-sized fleet to protect her shores and patrol the Tropilium Straits. However, the Nycenaean League relies heavily on its armies to repel any invasion attempt.

Flotilla	Commander	Comp. Rating	Ships	Home Port
1st	Leto	Excellent (5)	4 Quinquereme Sqdn. 4 Quadrireme Sqdn. 2 Trireme Sqdn. 2 Bireme Sqdn. Hemiolia Sqdn. Transports	Nica [180]
2nd	Melita	Average (3)	4 Quinquereme Sqdn. 4 Quadrireme Sqdn. 2 Trireme Sqdn. 2 Bireme Sqdn. Hemiolia Sqdn. Transports	Ilthiasza [110]
3rd	Cythereia	Poor (2)	4 Quinquereme Sqdn. 4 Quadrireme Sdn. 2 Trireme Sqdn. 2 Bireme Sqdn. Hemiolia Sqdn. Transports	Estioneira [182]
4th	Niobe	Average (4)	4 Quinquereme Sqdn. 4 Quadrireme Sdn. 2 Trireme Sqdn. Bireme Sqdn. Hemiolia Sqdn. Transports	Jyalene [128]
5th	Polydora	Average (3)	4 Quinquereme Sqdn. 4 Quadrireme Sdn. 2 Trireme Sqdn. Bireme Sqdn. Transports	Daulipe [108]

Asterian Fleets

There is an old maxim that autocracies build armies while democracies build navies. Asteria has two large fleets, one to protect the northern shores of Valkae and the western fleet, which not only protects the western coast, but also escorts the Asterian trade missions to other parts of Talomir.

Western Fleet

Flotilla	Commander	Comp. Rating	Ships	Home Port
Asteria	Hecuba	Superb (6)	Hexareme 7 Quinquereme Sqdn 4 Quadrireme Sqdn 4 Trireme Sqdn 3 Hemiolia Sqdn 8 Liburnian Sqdn 2 Patrol Ships Transports	Asteria [58]
Eutane	Tryphena	Excellent (5)	7 Quinquereme Sqdn 3 Quadrireme Sqdn 4 Trireme Sqdn 3 Hemiolia Sqdn 8 Liburnian Sqdn 2 Patrol Ships Transports	Eutane [52]

Northern Fleet

Flotilla	Commander	Comp. Rating	Ships	Home Port
Gaithoe	Phaia	Superb (6)	Hexareme 7 Quinquereme Sqdn 4 Quadrireme Sqdn 16 River Liburnian Sqdn Transports	Gaithoe [106]
Bliyme	Nemerte	Average (4)	7 Quinquereme Sqdn 3 Quadrireme Sqdn 8 Trireme Sqdn 6 Hemiolia Sqdn 4 Patrol Ships Transports	Bliyme [105]

I know, like you, I’m thinking tracking logistics and troop movements for the campaign will be a gamer’s hell and a bean-counter’s heaven. But may be necessary to tell a realistic story. Anyway, I now know the geography of Valkae, where the armies assemble, the ports the fleets call home, and the distances between places.

According to the Solo Wargaming Guide, the remaining pre-campaign tasks to do is to develop the aggressor’s plan of attack and when the defender becomes aware of the aggressor’s plan. Once that is done, ships sail and armies march.

In the meantime, I’m furiously painting Amazons and rebasing the ones I’d already completed from square bases to round ones. With NaNoWriMo starting in a couple of weeks, it is hard to say when the first battle will occur.

Here are the posts in the “Iron Queen’s War” so far:

1. Making a Darn Good Game More Complicated
2. The Outline Map
3. Adding Terrain to the Map
4. Armies and Navies (this post)

When I started this, I had no idea how complicated map campaigns could be. In Tony Bath’s Ancient Wargaming, there are options for diving deep into the economics and probabilities of nations at war. A real-life example would be the unexpected outbreak of plague in Athens at the beginning of the Peloponnesian War. I’ve decided not to go that deep with my campaign. I’ll just depend on simple dice rolls to determine if there is ample food and supplies available for the armies.

What kind of experiences have you had with detailed campaigns? Your comments, suggestions, showers of lavish praise (not to be confused with having the fire hose turned on the floozy) are always welcome.

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