Military Ranks

[Omegaxicor]

I am having my party run through a Dwarven held tunnel followed by a Human Capital but I was wondering what sort of military ranks would the officers they receive missions off hold.

I have looked through US and British ranks but much of the information is confusing and, in some cases, contradictory.

Has anyone else used military ranks and, if so, what did you use for information?

I don't need to represent actual military forces but something the players can understand quickly would be nice, I need a Human, Dwarven and Human off-shoot (based on an old-human set so maybe the same...)

 

[Cadence]

If you haven't seen it already, Wikipedia has a section on "Origins of modern ranks" on its "Military rank" page that might be helpful. Military rank - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Omegaxicor]

It is helpful but it is confusing...

 

[Cadence]

It is helpful but it is confusing...

That's the only one I've used, sorry.

You could select a different modern or historical country's ranks for each of the different races. That would give the players some intuitive understanding, but also reflect the real world confusion that probably would have existed. (The Wikipedia page has a bunch of links to different countries at the bottom.)

 

[Ryujin]

Try to keep it fairly simple. You're dealing with one city, not an entire army, even if it is the capitol. The Watch would be a paramilitary organization, separate from the army.

The Captain of the Watch runs things. He has three 8 hour shifts, each commanded by a Lieutenant of the Watch. Each squad is led by a Sergeant and a Corporal, with 6 troopers under them.

They would typically accept orders from a lieutenant. Perhaps, when they got a little higher up the food chain, they would deal with the Captain of the Watch or even the City Council.

If you want to go the actual military route then you would have to decide what the basis of the nation's government is, as it would greatly effect the nature of the army.

 

[Omegaxicor]

That's brilliant!

For the capital, the ruler is the typical hereditary King/Queen, with a Commander who governs the training of Knights (both mounted and not) and a Naval Commander who governs the small fleet in the waters to the south. the military is governed by another Commander who is elected (the only elected official in the army) and s/he directs the training of militia, a small standing army and a small standing group of archers trained by the Wood Elves in the forest in the north.

That's all I have at the moment but I like the idea of the Captain of the Watch and his troops.

EDIT: The Dwarves have a small army ordered from Mountain King (mountain Kings elect a High King to lead armies beyond their mountain cities), High Protector, Regiment Commander, Sergeant, Defender and Initiate. I don't know if that's enough information...

 

[MoonSong]

Ok, to put things into less confussing terms, military ranks are a function of three different variables: Pecking order (seniority), Functions and overall Men-under-your-charge.

In fact the easiest way to address military ranks is by watching party sizes.

The smallest military unit possible is the squad or team, and thus the team leader is one of the lowest ranks with some authority, the exact name varies depending on the nature of the army, but the most common is Corporal. Now even on a small unit a second in command comes in handy, someone to protect, assist, provide advice and if needed replace the team leader on a temporal basis, thus the second in command ensues (the vice corporal, lancer, lancecorporal, etc). Below the second in command, lay the specialists, soldiers who while not being in charge, hold an opinion that is very valuable to the team leader. Then there is an obvious difference between the professional soldiers, the rookies and the voluntaries that fight alongside them, but who ultimately only follow orders, lacking the real trainning and experience the professionals hold.

Then a group of teams make a platoon or centuria, which is commanded by a Junior Officer, for example a Centurion, this man's job is to coordinate all team leaders, but not being one himself, he is there to call orders, of course given the logistics of coordinating a group of teams, he needs an Assistant.

A group of platoons forms a company, a Company is directed by a Captain (The one at the head) who is assisted by a special Junior Officer who works as his second in command, this person is the Lieutenant, and given the logistics needed to coordinate this amount of people there is also an Ensign(or sub lieutenant), someone who relies orders from the Captain and the Lieutenant to other Officers.

At this point confusion starts to ensue, as there is a high variation of groupings and they vary according to army size. So in short (remember those are descriptions or achetypes, feel free to rename them on your world)

• The voluntary/draftee. Someone with only the most basic trainning at best. Not a real soldier.
• The Rookie. Has been trained but lacks experience
• The Professional. Has both trainning and some experience
• The Specialist. Serves a special purpose on the squad
• The Lancer. Has experience and assists the leader, normally a dead-end rankwise, since someone competent has to remain at this level to ensure the bases are covered.
• The leader. Leads the Squad, most leaders weren't Lancers first, if a leader is promoted or killed, his position will be taken by an specialist or a professional, the lancer is there to make sure a new leader performs as needed.
• The Assistant. He is senior to all leaders, but most commonly only relies orders from the junior Officer
• The Junior officer. He is the head of the platoon.
• The Ensign. A special Junior Officer with no platoon of his own, but who helps to rely the orders from the Captian and Lieutenant
• The Lieuttenant. He is also a junior Officer, commanding a platoon of his own, but also acts as a second in command of the whole company
• The Captain.The head of the company. And if the whole army is only a single company he is also the supreme leader of the army

Higher rankings according to army size:

The Whole army is a group of companies. The army is lead by a General/Admiral, who in turn is the most senior of the captains

Companies form Battallions, the whole army is a small group of battallions. Each Battallion is lead by a Commander, with a Junior Commander as his second in command. The General/Admiral is the supreme leader and is senior to all Commanders

Companies form Battalions, and battallions form brigades. The whole army is a small group of Brigades. Each battallion is lead by a Junior commander, each brigade is directed by a Brigadier General with a Commander as his second in command. The General/Admiral is the most senior Brigadier

And since I'm starting to get tired, and fantasy armies aren't likely to get that big (when a brigadier enters the picture we are talking about 10,000 to 20,000 soldiers). The ranks as army size start to increase is: Brigadier -> Major General -> Lieutenat General -> General -> Marshal -> Greatmarshal->Supreme Commander, as the groupings start to get bigger and bigger.

 

[Omegaxicor]

wow...

despite many spelling errors that is unbelievably clear, maybe you could write a Wikipedia article on it.

The King's army is nowhere near that size so probably stops at Captain, with the King as a General, as does the invading armies forces but the invading army is much bigger so it is very helpful that you included more so I can use it in the future.

Thank you for the page of text (not wall because it was nicely spaced)

 

[Ryujin]

That's brilliant!

For the capital, the ruler is the typical hereditary King/Queen, with a Commander who governs the training of Knights (both mounted and not) and a Naval Commander who governs the small fleet in the waters to the south. the military is governed by another Commander who is elected (the only elected official in the army) and s/he directs the training of militia, a small standing army and a small standing group of archers trained by the Wood Elves in the forest in the north.

That's all I have at the moment but I like the idea of the Captain of the Watch and his troops.

EDIT: The Dwarves have a small army ordered from Mountain King (mountain Kings elect a High King to lead armies beyond their mountain cities), High Protector, Regiment Commander, Sergeant, Defender and Initiate. I don't know if that's enough information...

I would set The Watch well apart from the army, in such a case. Since you're bringing nobility into the mix, who would traditionally provide the heavily armoured mounted troops of such an army, The Watch would tend to be looked down upon.

The standing army would be rather small, consisting of career men and officers. During wartime the bulk of the army would be made up of conscripts, or the "spear levy", which would be provided by the various noble houses. These would be even more looked down upon by the standing regulars than would be members of The Watch who are, after all, still seen as professionals.

Were it my campaign I would likely play up this pecking order. If the PCs work with The Guard, and if they are particularly successful, then the nobility and regulars might not look too kindly upon them. That, or they would try to co-opt their services

*EDIT* Oh, and I rather like the idea of a career (perhaps second son) officer with a trim moustache and noble bearing being the #1 guy in charge, going by the name "Lethbridge Stewart"

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I read Azincourt last year, and they went into a little bit of detail about English military organization.

A typical "company" consisted of 100 men, split into four. Being English, three of those four groups were archers, one were "swords" (I forget the technical term). The entire band leader was called a "centenar" since he led 100 men. Each quarter was led by a "ventenar" (20 men, I wonder if the word "veteran" came from there).

I presume the swordsmen were mainly minor nobles, consisting of perhaps 10-12 knights and their squires, but it's possible there were fewer knights and some presumably non-nobles to go with them.

The commander was a landed noble (I forget what his actual title was), and despite what the king was paying him he had to go into debt to support his troops. He wasn't the only such lord either. Said noble was decent at fighting (generally he used an axe, mace or other weapon suitable for killing heavily-armored people; perhaps he had at-wills that targeted Fort or Reflex?) and a dueling sword master (very handy when fighting people wearing little or no armor). I guess he specialized in the sword.

Also, at least one priest. Someone's gotta pray with the soldiers in a Christian land. In a D&D setting, that person is casting Blessing or Prayer in combat and healing spells during or after that.