The military of Vayham county

The military of Vayham county

Introduction

The Count has a wide variety of military forces available at need but as is the case with any feudal nation or part of a nation, as it is in this case, few of them are regular standing forces as we would understand them in modern terms and many even of those are by nature of police or other paramilitary security forces rather than being strictly military. 

Standing forces (Under the Counts direct command)

The counts Household

This consists of the three knights of the Founder form the Cosdolan order of Vayham six sergeants of that order who collectively are in theory the Counts life guard. In addition to this are twelve more men at arms who are the security force for the keep itself as well as variable number of apprentices at arms but typically less than a dozen who are learning the trade.

The town guard 

Sixty men at arms organised into two companies of thirty under the command of a Captain they are responsible for security at the towns gates and for the patrolling of the towns walls at night to prevent miscreants sneaking into town over the walls, something which would be otherwise quite easy to do, given that any one able bodied could scramble up the bank and the wall at the fence at the top is only six feet at the most. They are equipped with studded armour short swords daggers small shields and spears, at least half of them may be armed with heavy crossbows. In wartime they merge with the town Militia and form a stiffening element and leadership cadre for this combined organisation.

The town watch

Actually two organizations the Day watch which has a Captain and a company of eighteen men at arms, they are armed with and equipped as the town guard above but seldom carry either their spears or shields relying on short swords and heavy hard wood clubs they are responsible for patrolling the streets outside the markets and the maintenance of good order in general they have powers of arrest and are more a police than a military force, the day watch is split into two patrols commanded by a Lieutenant and a sergeant. This might seem a little excessive but the day watch used to be as big as the Night if not larger before the Temple of the Fruitful coin took over the policing of the Markets. The night watch is four companies of eighteen men at arms are responsible for patrolling all the streets and the market areas after the markets have closed and for the maintenance of good order in general during the hours of darkness. The organization is commanded by a Capitan and each company by a Lieutenant and a sergeant who as with the day watch command a patrol of nine men each. In wartime the town watch are not frontline fighters but will likely be responsible for the martial law that is imposed within the town. This has never happened in the whole history of the town so far.

Auxiliary forces

In addition to this since the first encounter with the Goblins ended so badly the Count is employing a company of mercenaries to bolster his forces this being twenty crossbowmen and twenty pole arm equipped infantry as well as a further twenty mixed medium horse and Mounted crossbowmen. Out of interest this is the company which Sondan previously served in as a foot crossbow man.

The town Militia

In time of war or similar threat the Count can also call out the town Militia which comes in two parts the first is the permanent levy, this is mandated by town ordinances which require one person per house to make themselves available to train for three days a year and for ninety days at the Counts command. These are issued with short spears and small shields and expected to provide a side arm, at least a dagger and a set of armour typically padded.

Training concentrates on refreshers on phalanx fighting and for those with no talent for that archery or sling work; the net result of the call up of the permanent levy is about two hundred spearmen and a score or so archers and slingers. The general levy which can only be called in dire emergencies and has never  in the history of Vayham so far been needed, consists of every able bodied male in the town, but they are not issued with weapons or equipment and have had no training beyond that which they might have as individuals. The organization of such a force is also rather sketchy as it’s never been raised so no one has practiced using it or thought that much about how it might be used.

Indirectly commanded forces.

Feudal Levy

In addition to this the Count has the following forces feudally obligated to serve him as a result of him also being the Land holder of the “manor of Vayham” and a couple of adjacent manors to the west of the county.

As Land holder of Vayham manor the count has eight tenants obligated to serve as horse, or provide a mounted man at arms and twenty three tenants obligated to serve as infantry provide a foot man at arms. This number has been expanded some what by the more wealthy tenants bringing along numbers of servants under arms so the count has around forty fighters from this Manor all told about half of whom are front line fighters either mounted or afoot and the rest of which are at best light infantry or missile troops armed with slings and short bows, some of these have horses but are not by any means soldiers, much less cavalry. The direct command of these troops goes to the manor’s Steward

As Land holder the manors of the Redwoods and Paga’s hold the Count has four and seven tenants obligated to serve as horse, or provide a mounted man at arms and fourteen and twenty eight respectively tenants obligated to serve as infantry provide a foot man at arms. This number has been expanded some what by the more wealthy tenants bringing along numbers of servants under arms to twenty five and forty eight, but the servants under arms are not front line fighters.

The feudal levies of the rest of the county from the manors not held directly by the count amount to one hundred and sixty mounted, four hundred and nine foot and three hundred servants under arms about a third of which can ride and have a horse to ride, this would have been more by a third over all but the Land holders in the south of the county partitioned the Count to hold onto their levy as they had their own pressing problems with goblins and the forces provided by the land holders east of the M’Alvern stream where mauled badly by the initial fighting with the goblins and indeed one of the Landholders was slain in the same ambush as the Counts heir. Even so there remain around a hundred troops from the east march holding as the two surviving land holders and the count acting for the minor heir of the deceased one have seen fit to levy the entire surviving able bodied male populating of those now over run land holds. Some of the Land holders in the west of the county have also sent some of their own household troops or have come themselves which again bolsters the number especially of horsemen even if it aggravates command and control difficulties as they all want to be consulted about the use of their people.

Other Supporting forces

Not under the counts control except in the loosest sense are the following forces

Knights of the True

There are three actual knights of this order at the temple as well as eight men at arms, mostly fighters in training to be knights and the Clerical staff at the temple all of whom are experienced combatants and equipped as well as the men at arms at least. In all there are around twenty determined combatants who can serve as heavy cavalry or heavy foot as needed.

Market Guard

Acting a town watch but only by day and in the areas of the markets the Temple of the fruitful coin commands forty soldiers mostly experienced mercenaries looking for a more comfortable billet than fighting Humanoids in the north or escorting east west caravans across the mountains between Brandobia and Kalamaria. Quite what their role would be in the event of a war is unclear but it is expected they would fight to defend the Coin Lords assets if nothing else.

The Guild Guard

Having a role guarding the towns guild buildings under the egis of the Brotherhood of industry to which most of the guilds are connected they are largely seen as counter muscle to the Market Guard but again they have no official war role. There are again around forty former mercenaries or Neffarian miners’ guild trouble shooters or guards the latter are much more trusted than former who come from the same pool as the Market guard.