Armies

No ruler can wear the crown without first building, organizing, and commanding powerful armies. You may create many armies in the course of a game. Each army is composed of various types of soldiers, armed with weapons you buy or produce, and each may travel independently of one another, to fight and conquer as you command. There are two main classes of soldiery in LORDS II: citizen solders and mercenaries. Mercenaries are soldiers for hire, who travel the land and fight for whomever will pay them. They tend to be skilled professionals but they are costly to hire and maintain. You may find yourself unable to afford them until after you have ruled for several years. A citizen army, on the other hand, comes from the ranks of the people themselves. The cheapest kind of soldier is the simple peasant soldier, armed only with whatever “weapon” he can find on the farm. Or you may arm your citizen soldiers with swords, pikes, and other weapons which will improve their performance considerably. You raise a citizen army through conscription (forcible service). Conscripting peasants can reduce happiness: your people realize it is necessary, but they will become angry if you conscript too many. Mercenaries will come to your county occasionally to offer their services, and you may hire them when you can afford them.

Creating an Army

Drafting Citizens

To create an army, click on the Create an Army button on the control panel. The armory will appear. The panel in the middle of the armory contains a slider bar which you may use to choose the number of citizens you want to draft into your next army.

The slider bar shifts your population between civilian service and conscription into the army you are about to raise.

Once part of an army, citizens cease to be counted among your population. Only those not conscripted will be available for the non-military work pool of agricultural and industrial labor.

The slider bar is your way of determining what proportion of the population you will conscript (the numbers on either side of the bar will equal your current population). Slide the figure toward the soldier to raise conscription; slide it toward the farmer to lower it. Just moving the bar does not actually conscript anyone, it just sets the percentage of people you will conscript. Once you have determined the size of the army you want to conscript, click on Continue. The conscription panel also displays: • The change in happiness resulting from the conscription level you set. The higher the percentage, the lower your happiness will fall. You may not conscript a number that will cause happiness to drop below zero—beyond a certain point, peasants will simply refuse to take up arms! • The number of mercenaries (if any) in the county, and the hiring price they demand. If you do not have sufficient gold in your treasury to hire them, the panel will tell you so. • The number of each type of weapon currently in your armory. If you have 20 swords, the army may not include more than 20 swordsmen. Clicking on the Continue button confirms the size of the army you are raising. You may then determine the makeup of the army by arming your soldiers.

Arming your Soldiers

After you have determined the portion of your population to conscript, you may arm your soldiers with swords, pikes, and other weapons. An army must have at least 50 soldiers in it. It may include a mix of several types of soldier: peasant soldiers, macemen, pikemen, archers, crossbowmen, swordsmen, and knights. To raise non-peasant soldiers, your armory must contain weapons. The figures at the bottom of the screen (and the weapons visible in the armory) show the types of soldiers you may raise. The weapons you possess hang on the armory wall. If swords are visible, you may raise swordsmen; if pikes are visible, you may raise pikemen, and so on. The number next to each figure shows the number of that type of soldier currently in the army.

To arm your soldiers, click on the figures at the bottom of the screen (or click directly on the weapons in the armory). A panel will appear, telling you the number of the selected soldier currently in the army, and the maximum number you may raise. Use the up and down arrows to set the desired number, and then click on the corner arrow to close the panel. The number you have set will appear next to the corresponding figure at the bottom of the armory screen. When you approve of the army composition shown at the bottom of the armory screen, click on the Create button to create the army. If you are unsatisfied with the size or composition of your army and wish to start over, click on the Change button to return to the conscription slider bar. If you change your mind and decide not to create an army at all, click on the Cancel button (or right click) to return to the main map.

Army Wages

Your citizens soldiers demand wages. If you do not pay your army wages, your soldiers will desert and you will lose them. You may consult your Treasury at any time to see the total army wages you must pay each season. To see the wages of any specific army, right click on that army on the main map.

Hiring Mercenaries

Mercenaries are “soldiers of fortune” who travel from county to county offering their services to any lord who will pay their wages.

Mercenaries are skilled warriors and as such they can be expensive. They come with their own weapons, though, and hiring them will not reduce a county’s happiness or population like conscription does. When you see a mercenary icon on top of one of your county towns on the main map, a mercenary army is present in your county.

When there is a mercenary army in your county you may find out more about it by going to the armory. The panel in the middle of the screen displays the number and type of the mercenaries, what it will cost to hire them, and their seasonal wages.

If you have enough crowns to hire the mercenaries, the panel will ask you whether or not you wish to hire them. If you click on Yes, the mercenaries will be added to the corresponding unit type in the stone panel at the bottom of the screen. Their wages will be deducted automatically from your treasury, and will continue to be deducted for every season you employ them.

You may not combine two armies that both contain mercenaries. Most mercenary clans have fought against each other in the past, and as a result they do not get along!

Troop Types

Peasant Soldiers

Peasant soldiers are the most basic, most ill-equipped troop type in an army, but they can be useful. Peasants soldiers carry only their own pitchforks as weapons, so they cost no crowns to raise and arm.

Peasants can move at medium speed around the battlefield, and they have a minimal ability to attack and defend. They wear no armor, so they are more vulnerable to ranged attacks by bow and crossbow than units wearing armor.

Macemen

Macemen carry large and heavy warclubs with spiked heads. Macemen wear light armor and can move quickly across the battlefield (second only to knights in speed). Cheaper and faster than swordsmen, macemen are good attackers but weak defenders and are vulnerable to ranged attacks. Mace production requires both iron and wood.

Macemen are ideal for chasing down archers and crossbowmen. They are also very effective against peasants.

Pikemen

Because of their heavy and cumbersome weapons, pikemen move very slowly on the field. Their light mail protects them somewhat from ranged attacks. Their hand-to-hand attack value is less than that of macemen, swordsmen, and knights, but their handto- hand defense value is relatively high. Pikes are less expensive than crossbows, swords, and knight’s equipment, but a bit more expensive than maces. Pike production requires iron and wood.

Pikemen are best used to defend archers and crossbowmen.

Archers

Archers and crossbowmen are the only units capable of ranged attacks. Archers wear no armor and are moderately fast on the field. They are not well suited to hand-to-hand combat, as their real value is in the ranged attack. Archers have a greater range than crossbowmen, and they can fire more rapidly. Each shot from an archer’s longbow, however, is not as powerful as one from a crossbow. Bow production requires no iron, but quite a bit of wood.

Archers are not well suited for attacking units that wear armor. They are very effective against peasants, macemen, and archers. Against swordsmen and knights, archers are nearly useless.

Crossbowmen

Unlike archers, crossbowmen wear light armor. As a result they will better withstand ranged attacks. Crossbowmen are poor hand-to-hand combatants but they have better close range defensive ability than archers. Shots from a crossbow will do more damage than those from a longbow, but crossbowmen take a longer time to reload, so their rate of fire is lower. Crossbows are among the more expensive weapons to purchase or produce. Crossbow production requires both wood and iron.

Crossbows are very effective against units wearing armor. (Against peasants or macemen, archers are a better value.) Crossbowmen can also be very effective against siege weapons.

Swordsmen

Swordsmen wear full chain mail and helmets, and they carry swords and shields. These are your elite fighters, chosen from among your strongest citizens. They move reasonably well and are deadly hand-tohand fighters. Their armor and weapons make them good at both attacking and defending at close range, and they stand up pretty well to archer attacks. Sword production requires much iron and some wood.

Knights

Knights are the most powerful and most expensive close-range fighters. They wear heavy plate mail and carry swords and shields, but because they are mounted they are by far the fastest troops on the field. Their hand-to-hand attack and defense abilities are the highest of any troops, and they withstand archer attacks better than anyone. A knight’s only weakness is his vulnerability to crossbow attacks.

To outfit knights requires large quantities of iron and small quantities of wood.

Armies in the Realm

After you create an army in the armory, you will return to the main map, where your new army stands awaiting orders. An army is represented by one or more figures carrying a flag of its player’s color. An army’s size is reflected by the number of figures that represent it on the main map. A one-figure army is small, a two-figure army is medium sized, and a three-figure army is large.

To get information about any army on the main map, right click on it. A panel will display information about that army.

The three buttons at the bottom of the panel allow you to move, disband or split the army. Clicking the move button closes the panel and readies the army for movement on the main map.

When you right-click on another player’s army, a small parchment panel displays very general information about that army.

Moving Armies

To move an army, you may use the move button as described above, or you may left-click directly on the army on the main map. The mouse pointer will change shape. As you move the pointer in the direction you want the army to travel, a path will progress in that direction, beginning from where the army currently stands. Click on a destination to move the army.

Each army has a certain number of movement points each turn, which represents the distance the army is able to travel during one season.

The number inside each ball shows the number of movement points it costs to move across the terrain your mouse pointer indicates. You’ll notice that travel across roads uses far fewer points than travel across grass or fields. Armies may move across many types of terrain, but they are fastest on roads.

Splitting armies and fighting battles also use movement points.

Combining Armies

To combine two of your armies, move one army on top of another. The first army will march over and combine with the second.

Whenever you want to add forces to an army, this is the way to do it. If, for example, you purchase 50 pikes and would like to give them to an existing army, simply create a new army of 50 pikemen and combine it with the existing army.

You may not combine two armies if they both contain mercenaries.

Splitting an Army

If you want to split one army into two smaller ones, right-click on the army to bring up the army information panel, then click on the Split Army button at the bottom of the panel. A new panel appears that gives a breakdown of units that comprise the army.

Use the left and right arrows to divide men between the existing army and the new one. When you are satisfied with the division, click on the thumbs up gauntlet and the two new armies will appear on the main map. If you decide you don’t want to split the army, click on the thumbs down gauntlet and the army will remain as it was. Remember: an army must have at least 50 soldiers in it.

Disbanding an Army

To disband an army, right-click on it to bring up the army information panel, then click on the Disband Army button at the bottom of the panel. You will be prompted to confirm your command.

The soldiers of a disbanded army will return to their county of origin and become a part of the population again. Their weapons will return to your treasury.

Pillaging

Destroying your opponents’ resources can be an effective, if barbaric, tactic. You may wage economic warfare by destroying any opponent’s active fields or industrial sites. To do so, simply march an army over the site you’d like to pillage.

When you attack a grain or cattle field, your soldiers render the field barren and destroy all its contents. When you attack any industrial site, it must shut down for several seasons for repairs. You may also attack a county’s villages and slaughter its people, which reduces the county’s population.

Capturing Counties

To conquer any neutral county (even one with a castle), you must send an army to capture its countytown. (Neutral counties appear green on the overview map).

To conquer a county with a garrisoned castle (which will always be controlled by a noble), you must capture its castle.

To conquer a noble controlled county with no castle, you must capture its county town. Human players must defend their county towns by placing armies nearby.

When you set the path of your army to end on an enemy town or castle, the graphic representing the army’s last move will appear different. Counties without castles tend to be much easier to conquer than counties with castles.

The only way to capture a completed, garrisoned castle is by laying siege. During a siege, your army surrounds the defender’s castle and builds special siege weapons. As soon as these siege weapons are completed, the battle will begin.

If your forces defeat the castle defenders and capture the castle, it and its county will be yours —another jewel in your royal collection.

See Sieges on page 86 for more information. When a neutral county has a castle, you will not need to siege the castle to capture the town. Neutral counties with castles will always be counties that have revolted and kicked their ruling noble out. In these counties, the castle has been abandoned.

Foraging

By default, the Army Foraging option (under the Options/Advanced menu) is set to No. As long as foraging is off, you will never have to worry about feeding your armies; they will take care of themselves. Any and all food management you do will be for your civilian population.

For a more challenging game experience, switch Army Foraging to Yes. See Army Foraging in the Advanced Game Options section of this manual, page 106.