On
the late medieval battlefield the use of crossbows and polearms
has reduced the effectiveness of the cavalry, hence the cavalry
are usually removed from the main battle. Heavier armour also
makes the archers arrows less effective, hence they are now
more secondary troops but are still very prominent on the
battlefield.
General
Troops
Most of
the troops are recruited, as oppose to them being from professional
armies. The majority of a governmental army is raised from
the towns, they are expected to have thier own arms but realistically
speaking only about 15% of recruits would. Most of the towns
would have thier own armoury and the larger towns would have
thier own crossbow army to defend thier town. Mercenary troops
would more likely to be from the poorer areas of the country
and they would have thier own arms and armour.
Archers
 The
archer, as mentioned, is an important member of the army although
now less effective, Their weapon is the longbow with a secondary
weapon of a dagger or a short sword. Thier armour would be
a light helm and a leather jacket, although more realistically
they would wear anything that would protect them more then
say thier usual clothing. The types of Arrows they would use
depended on the target. If the target was not wearing armour
(effective against horses) the arrow head would be wide and
designed to cut up flesh, (this type of arrow was also used
for hunting). Another head was armour piercing with a needle
style point. and the last type had a head which once in the
target and the arrow was pulled out the head was left inside
the unlucky soul. At the battle of agincourt the Henry had
around 5,000 archers and 400,000 arrows, each archer could
fire 10 arrows a minute on average so there was around eight
minutes of an intensive bombardment of arrows which would
have cut holes through the advancing French. There would have
been around 50,000 arrows a minute falling or 800 a second.
Cavalry
 As
mentioned the cavalry are now removed from the main battle,
they are usually lightly armoured and use spears, lances or
something similar.
Infantry
The infantry
are foot soldiers armed with polearm weapons such as halberds,
pikes, spears or something similar, they also have secondary
weapon such as a short shord. Thier armour is somewhere in
between an archer's and a knight's, being fairly light but
covering the essential areas of the body, such as the head,
chest and the tops of the legs, One of the main ways in which
the infantry would work was to lower thier pikes measuring
around 6 metres long horizontally thus fending off any charging
cavalry.
Knights
These
are the heavy soldiers of the battlefield usually wearing
a full suit of armour and carrying a Hand-and-a-half sword
or the stronger knights would carry a two handed sword. They
would also have a secondary weapon such as a mace or morning
star. Although contrary to popular images the knights didn't
usually carry shields in combat, as these are ineffective
against weapons like the crossbow and would only slow the
knight down. Towards the end of the medieval era the knights
prefered agility rather then defense. The knight is usually
a foot soldier but he can also fight from horseback.
Mercenaries
 The
mercenaries are hired by the captain to fight with his army,
they usually come in the form of heavy infantry or crossbow
men. This is their job, so as you can imagine they are highly
skillied and effiecient fighters, they are battle hardened
so they will probably not turn and run when things look grim.
When they are not employed to fight they often form thier
own companies and work together in the form of companies to
ambush supply lines and hold towns to ransom.
Private
Armies
With incresing
unrest the country, Members of the upper class such as lords
and merchants would employ his own army to protect him, his
family and his land. The army would be a mixture of men working
in different capacities to create an effective small army.
They would be ready to fight for their lord whenever the need
arises.
Battles
A large
army can have around 30,000 men, a normal sized army will
have aroun 10,000 men. Whatever their size an army will deploy
it's troops in the same fashion of three battalions, these
being the vanguard, the main body and the rear. An example
army is as follows 1500 Archers in the vanguard, accompianed
by 1000 Infantry, then 1500 infantry and 2000 knights in the
main body and then 1000 infantry and 500 cavalry in the rear.
Usually
the vanguard initiate the battle with the infantry to their
front and rear for protection, then the archers would try
to aim their bows to cut holes in the attacking troops. The
two opposing armies would be about 400 yards away, firing
their arrows at each other, once the arrows have exchanged
sides, then the main body would advance. The advance is usually
made by the larger army or by those who must fight, The polearms
men would be first followed by the knights and the archers,
at this stage casualties are heavy, but those who are injured
or exhausted (usually the knights) are usually able to remove
themselves from the melee.
The battle
draws to an end when one side's lines break and they no longer
have the defence of the pole arms or the support from the
archers. Then the soldiers start to retreat and they become
broken, this is when the rear battalion moves in, as mentioned,
made up of the Cavalry and light infantry, they swoop down
from a position and massacre the retreating army, at this
stage there are more hevy casualties and it is possible that
the captains are captured here.
The casualties
in a battle can be around 20% for the losers and 10% for the
victors, a particularly bloody battle can result in 60% of
the losers die and around 25% for the victors.
Smaller
Scale Combat
Raids
Raids
are essential to an army while on campaign, from a few dozen
to a couple of hundre of soldiers would raid a local village
or enemy supplies. These supply raids were essential to keep
and army going, but they would also wear an enemy done before
a battle.
Personal
Combat
Personal
Combat was a challenge thrown down between the two leaders
of an army. These were fairly rare but would consist of the
leader with a dozen or so of his best men fighting with each
other in a mini melee.
Ambush,
Abduction and Assassination
When a
target is ambushed or abducted it is usually carried out on
the road in a place which would minimise the possibility of
escape or ona bridge is a good example. The basic aim was
to overwhelm the target with men, causing the defenders to
scatter, or failing that they would be killed. It would be
a balance of the number of men you have available and the
precision in which you are able to carry out the attack.
The job
of the assassin was a rather unpopular one, this is because
that most assassins would be killed or captured once they
have completed their goal (which the often did). The assassin
however wasa very effective way to dispose of a key person,
such as a captain.
|
