An army has three branches: Infantry, cavalry and artillery.
Cavalry is superior in both strength and mobility to the infantry, but will usually fail against a determined block of infantry. Fortunately for the cavalrymen, sufficiently tenacious infantry is rare. In addition to equipment and steed adjustments, noble cavalrymen get a +1 to Troop Strength for inborn virtue and hardiness.
Lancers are the heavy cavalry. Clad in half or full plate, mounted on heavy warhorses clad in metal armour (these mounts are big enough to make riding horses look like ponies) and armed with lances, swords, flails and picks, facing this troops is the nightmare of any other kind of warrior. Lancers are typically of noble blood, as it takes several years of training to master their mounts and weaponry, and the price of their equipment is $10 000 or more.
Demi-Lancers are medium cavalry. Clad in corselets, scale mail or chain mail, with sleeves and leggings of scale, splint or chain, the demi-lancers are inferior to lancers in power and tenacity but superior in mobility. They fight with the same weapons as lancers. While demi-lancers perform well against infantry, they are in most cases torn apart easily by lancers. Demi-lancers are less uniformly blue-blooded than lancers, composed of a mix of ambitious burgoise, gentlemen and poor noblemen.
Mounted archers are lightly armoured (typically wearing buff coats) cavalerists armed with bows with swords as secondary weapons. Virtually all mounted archers are either goblins, brought to the Frankish lands by Clemencians, or Haramesh. Superior harriers, skirmishers and scouts, mounted archers avoid getting into close combat with anything except broken troops.
Melee troops are divided into those fighting with polearms (spears, glaives, halberds, bills), and those wielding a single-handed weapon (axe, mace or sword) and a shield. Either kind of troop can be seen in armour ranging from buff coats and splint mail through chain mail, scale mail to breastplates and corselets, as a rule of thumb, halberdiers and swordmen tend to be of superior training and more heavily armoured than other troops.
Shot
Missile troops are typically lightly armoured (buff coats or splint mail), and armed with either bows, crossbows or muskets.
Shot wreak havoc
Artillery is extremely cumbersome, and therefore sees limited use in field battles, though small ballistiae and light cannons are sometimes used in field battles, especially by large armies. Most pieces are immobile. The primary use of artillery is in sieges, and pieces of artillery are usually built (or in the case of cannons, cast) where they will be used. Even mobile artillery is usually disassembled when moved over sizable distances.
Artillery was initially popularized by the Cargans, who used it to break the power of the magelords – artillery of Cargan invention includes ballistiae and catapults. A later additions is the trebuchet. All of these may be used to propel rocks, great darts or incendiaries at the enemy.
The fire siphon is an invention of the Cargan which has later been mastered by Haramesh, Clemencians and (especially) the Confederation of Sorcerors), it uses a double piston to spray liquid fire at men and siege engines, though its range is short and it is mainly a defensive weapon.
Cannons are a dwarven invention, which was adapted by Clemencians with devastating effects during the War of Drifting Smoke, and has later spread to all the Frankish countries. Cannons are usually elaborately decorated, with their muzzles resembling the maws of beasts and their pipes lavishly set with protective glyphs. Cannons are infamous for cracking or blowing up, but when they work, they exceed all other artillery.
Artillerists tend to be mercenaries, and their units are often organized as companies, selling stock in their enterprise. The best human artillerists come from the Confederation of Sorcerours, but Dwarves are even better cannoners.