Havard Wrote:I am not sure how this compares to historical medieval ranks. I have a feeling they were less granular, but it is nice to have this many levels. Personally I would consider requiring nobility points for any rank above sergeant. Werent officer ranks usually reserved for the nobility? I do like that the cavalry units do have this requirement.
Even the Romans had a number of military ranks:
http://getasword.com/blog/378-roman-military-ranks/
I think that, from a logistical point of view, you need to have a number of ranks in a larger military organisation. One person can only concentrate on organising a certain number of people and the rank system creates a "pyramid of power" that makes it possible for higher commanders to only deal with a small number of officers (or NCOs) below them. Once you have that structure in place, a high-up officer can decide what size unit needs to be employed to deal with a task and the officer below him can punt the orders downwards until the right size unit is given the task.
I'm not sure how things changed in medieval times, as certain things seemed to decline after the Roman Empire collapsed just as other things advanced. But you could have local varieties in how well the military is organised and some Blackmoorian cultures might be better than others, in this respect.
Perhaps this sort of thing could explain why civilisations were able to gain control of areas around cities, and critters like orcs were able to hold onto other areas. The military structure and the logistics of moving things about would give a military organisation the ability to move troops to deal with threats in certain areas. But hard to reach areas (like caves) might defeat the normal military tactics and force soldiers back into hand-to-hand fighting, where independently minded warriors could then have the advantage.
As for nobility being officers, that was something done in the UK. We also had something similar during the time of knights. But are all the societies in Blackmoor ones that have a king and nobility? IIRC, rich people could buy a commission in the army at one point. But I'm not totally sure on that.
If you had other forms of government, you might have other "political forces" that change who gets into the "officer class". Perhaps a nation ruled on religious grounds would have an "upper class" that had heavy ties to the church and a military structure that put priests and lay-priests into the positions of officers.
Perhaps a nation that is based on the principle of merit and communal living would have everyone start as a private, but also have the option to show their skill and advance to the position of commanding the entire army.
I think this is something you could vary to fit in with the type of culture you are trying to design.
One thing that fantasy armies might have, that real armies don't, is spellcasters. Wizards and clerics have spells, and that gives them the ability to do as much damage as a number of soldiers. This might mean that they are considered to be a larger "unit" in an army (based on their ability) and they may well be put into the pyramid of power at a higher level and given pay and rank at that level. (I know that WWII pilots in the UK's Royal Air Force were mostly - but not totally - officers, despite not commanding privates when they fought. A WWII pilot had a "ground crew" that helped them get their plane ready. Perhaps a wizard might have a small "crew" to look after his needs and watch his back, but be the primary fighter within his own unit.)
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