Demihuman Conscripts and Militia

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1

I believe this has been answered obliquely in other contexts about demihumans and “0 level” (or lack thereof), but I can’t find a direct answer, so I’m asking with a Googlable subject:

Demihuman rulers conscripting peasants from their domains/realms get demihumans, obviously, and they’re 1HD+ creatures.

Do they act as whatever troop type they’re equipped to be on conscription, without training?

Or do they come at some base level and need training for things beyond some baseline (LtInf elves, HvInf dwarves…)

Thanks!

2

They still need to be trained. See Qualifying Number (Per 120 Conscripts) under Training Conscripts. If untrained they are Irregular and have base morale -2.

What the rules do not make explicit is whether or not untrained dwarves and elves are still 1HD and 1+1HD creatures, or if they are noncombatants/normals. That is because this is not clearly resolved in the core rules.

ACKS inherited some “wonky” mechanics with regards to dwarves, elves, and beastmen that I wish I had better resolved in the core rules. Humans, dwarves, elves, and all beastmen types have the equivalent of “normal human” - called “noncomabants” for dwarves and elves, called “females” for the sexually dysmorphic beastmen. It is just not clear what proportion of each race is noncombatant…

3

OK, cool.

I’ll proceed feeling relatively safe I can treat them as regular conscripts in statistics and cost, then, and make a note that it’s perhaps extremely rare for the demihuman races to conscript.

Gotta feel bad for them anyway; their available units are more rare and more expensive. One of the many varied reasons dwarves drink and elves mope.

4

It appears to be clear what the noncombatant proportions are for at least some races. e.g., “Dwarven vaults will have adult noncombatants and young equal to 50% and 25% of the number of able-bodied adults respectively.”, “Elven fastnesses will have adult noncombatants and young equal to 100% and 5% of the number of able-bodied adults respectively.”, “Goblin lairs and villages will have females and young equal to 60% and 100% of the number of males respectively, neither of which fight.”, etc.

5

Hm, interesting.

Now I want to do some math and figure out differences in the definition of family for demihuman domains and how that impacts them in terms of conscripts and militia.

Off the top of my head, it seems like dwarves should be able to conscript more without penalty as they have fewer adult noncombatants than humans do, while elves would remain roughly the same.

6

Potential combatants by species:

Dwarves 57.14%
Gnomes 57.14%
Bugbears 50.00%
Elves 48.78%
Ogres 45.45% (plus 31.82% that fight as bugbears, plus 22.72% that fight as orcs)
Goblins 38.46%
Trolls 33.33% (plus 33.33% that fight as ogres, plus 33.33% that fight as orcs)
Kobolds 33.33%
Gnolls 28.57% (plus 14.29% that fight as orcs)
Orcs 25.00% (plus 25.00% that fight as goblins)
Morlocks 25.00%
Men, Nomad 25.00%
Neanderthals 25.00%
Halflings 25.00%
Hobgoblins 18.18%

7

I forgot Lizardmen. They’re at 30.77%, plus 38.46% that fight as gnolls.

8

One gap in ACKS is that I do not ever provide data for a typical manor of normal men. The entries under Men are for relatively tough bands of berserkers, bandits, and so on. Here is some data that should prove helpful.

We know from the Villages, Towns, and Cities section that the smallest village is 75 families.

Assume a Village of 75 families (375 people, with 150 adults and 225 children)
Given ACKS demographics in Chapter 10, of the 150 adults
1 in 20 are 1st level, or 18
1 in 50 are 2nd level, or 8
1 in 150 are 3rd level, or 3
1 in 375 are 4th levels, or 1
For a total 30 classed characters.
If there are 150 adults, and 30 classed characters, then there remain 120 0-level adults remaining. Of these 50% are noncombatants.

From this let’s build a monster entry:

Man, Normal
% In Lair: 40%
Dungeon Enc: Gang (1d8) / Hamlet (1 band)
Wilderness Enc: Band (1d6 gangs) / Manor (1d10 bands)
Alignment: Neutral
Movement: 120’ (20’)
Armor Class: 0
Hit Dice: 1 - 1
Attacks: 1 (weapon)
Damage: 1d4 or weapon
Save: 0 level human
Morale: -2
Treasure Type: E (per band)
XP: 5

Normal men (and women) are the peasants and serfs that make up the majority of the population of most realms. Each gang of normal men will be led by a yeoman (1st level fighter, bard, or thief). Each band will be led by a reeve (2nd level fighter, bard, or thief).

A manor of normal men will be led by its manorial lord (4th level fighter) with a bailiff (3rd level fighter) as his second-in-command. A manorial lord will be served by 3 men-at-arms (each a 1st level fighter). A manor will also have a chaplain (3rd level cleric) served by 2 acolytes (2nd level clerics) and either a local wizard (3rd level mage) or village witch (3rd level antiquarian witch). If a local wizard is present, then a cunning-woman (2nd level antiquarian witch) will be his village rival; if a village witch is present, then a hedge wizard (2nd level mage) will be hers. The manor will also have additional adult noncombatants and young equal to 100% and 375% of the number of normal men.

How does the above compare to ACKS demographics?
Assume a wilderness lair (manor) with an average of 5 bands of 3 gangs of 4 normal adults each. That yields 5 x 3 x 4 = 60 normal adults.

There will be 15 1st level yeomen, one per each of the 15 gangs; 3 1st level men-at-arms; 5 2nd level reeves; 1 3rd level bailiff; 1 4th level lord; 1 3rd level chaplain; 2 2nd level acolytes; 1 3rd level witch; and 1 2nd level mage. There will be 60 adult noncombatants and 225 young.

The total manor will have (60+60+15+3+5+3+2+1+1) 150 adults and 225 children, yielding 375 total, or 75 families. The demographic breakdown is thus:

1 in 20 1st levels = 18 (15 yeomen, 3 men-at-arms)
1 in 50 2nd levels = 8 (5 reeves, 3 others)
1 in 150 3rd levels = 3 (1 bailiff, 1 priest, 1 hedge wizard)
1 in 375 4th levels = 1 (1 lord)

One important note is that most of the classed characters are likely to be middle aged, having gained experience very slowly in occasional military campaigns or from domain management.

The pool of 1st level and 0th level combatant-capable men is (18+60) 78 men, of which 18 are 1st level, or 23%.

9

Plugging those numbers in to the spreadsheet I used to calculate the monster numbers, “civilized humans” have a 24.00% rate of potential combatants, so slightly less than nomads or halflings, and about half the rate of elves.

10

Halflings have no potential combatants, merely potential victims. Anything your spreadsheet suggests otherwise is a lie.

11

No, it’s combatants. The pie-eating contests and such get particularly…“festive”.

12

The “potential combatants” are the ones that are large enough for ogres to throw at targets.

13

I knew that halflings, like centaurs, are products of magical experimentation by the ancient minotaur overlords, but I never knew why. Thank you!

14

It’s a lot like Blood Bowl, except the balls occasionally complain about second breakfast.

15

That reminds me…ACKS doesn’t have a rat-men species. Yet.