3.6.2.1 Battle units

Before the start of the battle, each opposing commander organises his/her army into units.

A unit is a group of combatants who act together in the battle (i.e. they move together and attack together). A unit will normally have a single recognised leader (or group of leaders), whose orders all the combatants in that unit follow. For example, if the leader charges, all the other combatants in that unit will charge. A leader may (or may not) be a player character.

In addition, all the combatants in a unit will tend to have the same weapons and armour as each other. Hence, a unit of tribesman might be described, for example, as being unarmoured foot soldiers with small shields and hand-and-half swords.

The number of units in an army depends on the nature of the army:

• An irregular army will be made up of tribes or clans, each of which can be considered as a separate unit;
• A regular army will have a pre-defined command structure (e.g. regiments, divided into companies, divided into squads); and
• A feudal army will be split into units based on the combatant types (e.g. mounted knights, foot soldiers, archers, non-combatants, etc.).

As a rule of thumb, it is sensible for each opposing commander to split his/her armies into between 5 and 15 units. Less than this reduces his/her flexibility in deploying units in combat. More than this starts becoming impractical.

Each unit is then described by:

• Whether it is regular (i.e. a disciplined unit that has drilled together) or irregular (i.e. tribal or feudal);
• If regular, how well trained (from green recruits to seasoned veterans to elite troops); and
• What order it fights in. Close order is where troops are closely packed together into phalanxes or shield walls, and gives bonuses in melee. Skirmish order is where troops are spread out over some distance, and gives bonuses for missile combat.

Each unit has combat values calculated for it that show how tough the unit is in combat.