SKM Development: The Cost of Men

Alright, military stuff again. Because this stuff has an application for the economics of the realm.

One of the issues that the ACKs system had, was that losses were instantly re-absorbed because the hiring cost for a unit was identical to the cost of upkeep. This was simple for book keeping, but made losing men to misadventure something almost inconsequential. A dead light infantryman was replaced immediately by another light infantry man.

Looking at the requirement for upkeep and purchasing for troops, I concluded that we needed a few things taken care of first. One, precisely how we dealt with military operations (casualties specifically), and how much a trooper should cost at the on-set.

Well, the last part first, I decided for a simple first shot. A soldier’s initial purchase cost is equivalent to six months of pay up front. This represents the expenditure in equipment and resources for the guy.  This differs on the peasant. Their upkeep is 0.5 gp/mo, and their purchase cost is 1gp. So, with that simple calculation we get..

HIRING COST:

Peasants: 1 gp

Light Infantry: 12gp

Heavy Infantry: 30gp

Cavalry: 48gp

Knight: 120gp

Archer: 18gp

Horse Archers: 36gp

As I said quite some time ago though, Resource again shows its usefulness here. Not every can be bought with resource. The leather armor of a standard light infantryman, or the farm implements of a peasant are too small and fiddly. Its for stuff like heavy armor, horses, and so on, so..

RESOURCE HIRING COSTS:

Heavy Infantry: 3 Resource

Cavalry: 5 Resource

Knight: 10 Resource

Horse Archer: 5 Resource.

 So in lieu of spending 120gp for a knight, you can spend 10 resource to equip them. You still have to pay their upkeep however.

These hiring, or better put equipping costs, are the same for when you raise the army to train them. On the upside, you don’t need to upkeep trained soldiers, just “buy” them. The exception being the Knight. Knights always stick around. You can’t “lower” Knights or disband them once you’ve created them. The unit itself won’t stand for it.

Ok, that’s basic prices aside, now onto the issue of warfare itself.. That’s going to need a post all on its own..