“God himself cannot make them stand!” – Military matters in LotN, part II: Military units

There’s a few basic types of troops that exist in the armies of Northern Europe. This is a short presentation of what kind of troops there are.

In most states, if there’s a professional or conscripted army, the backbone of it is line infantry. “Line” means that they fight in a formation, with three to six lines forming a rectangular shape. This formation was invented to cope with the peculiarities of muskets: short range and inaccuracy, namely. Most of the armies of Peimar, Kirkoslet and Hanö fall into this category. The Hanö Marine Regiment is an elite line infantry regiment.

Some armies have light infantry which doesn’t fight in a formation and is often armed with rifled muskets. They don’t fight on the field like line infantry, instead they’re used as raiders, skirmishers and flank defenders. These kinds of formations are typically fairly small and frequently are cross-trained to fight as mounted infantry, which means they move by horse and fight on foot. The Border Guards of Hanö consist of units like this.

There are other types of infantry units, but I won’t bore you with details for now.

Cavalry is a bit harder to define, since the role of cavalry varies a lot, depending on what sort of tasks are at hand. Typically, differences are mostly in equipment and such: for example, Peimar has cavalry troops armed with sabre and pistol, while the pride of the Hanö Republic, the Halike Lancers, are armed with lances and pistols. Essentially, both still do the same thing in battle: charge the enemy with pistols and cold steel.

Dragoons are troops that are essentially mounted infantry, but occasionally fight from horseback. They’re often armed with carbine muskets, pistols and sabres. As an example of famous dragoon outfits, the army of Peimar employs the all-woman dragoon squadron The Night Witches, who use axes in addition to sabres.