How do you organize your army?

[DraconisTerrena]

I'm pretty anal about organizing my armies. I try to have even numbers of troops with the various weapons (20 spearmen, 12 archers, etc.), and even tend to keep my numbers and weapon arrangements in mind when I buy and assemble sets and figures. I don't focus on a specific army at a given time, especially given that most sets consist of figs from multiple factions.

[Heir of Black Falcon]

Teherean,

Ummmm... the feudal system was organised for war, perhaps its key function.

Heir

[troll]

I'm not a pro at organizing, but I'm doing it with groups/platoons of example 2-4 archers, 4+ swordsmen, 4 spear men and one leader.
the groups shall then be 10 people + 1 leader, this is important i thing because of if a squad of just swordsmen attacks an tower filled with archers, then they don't have any chance, but with archers on their side they can strike back, so I prefers to use different weapons in each group.

[dyntar]

Well I dont have enough figures to create a huge army but mine is generally lead by the knights.
As I have a fairly big castle to defend. Its Black falcon castle and Black dragon Fortress with extensions joined together.
I used to have the Lions as the enemy but lately the goblins have outnumbered alot of forces so goblins are the ones laying seige.

It goes

1/Black dragon king - controls all.
2/ Generals - each faction has a general [Falcons/lions/dragons etc.] generals control all under them. [other knights can only control foot soldiers]
3/ Captain of the guard controls foot soldiers. [captains are usually wearing footsoldier armour but riding a horse]
4/ Peasants and other factions with few soldiers. join in defence of castle and are ordered about by anyone. [If they have a king he acts as a general]
5/ robin hood men and wizards do their own thing.. [no rules]

I also have 5 old footsoldiers that were my brothers from set 6077 they are called the veterans and are the maidens guardians.[only the king and maidens can give them orders]

The enemies are generally a rabble or they attack as each faction [Fright knights etc]. The Trolls are in two groups. 1 leader 6-8 foot soldiers and a big troll in each. Each group has a seige engine or dragon.

I also have a pack of dogs controlled by the lone Wolf bandit.. he does his own thing.

[DO+1]

My army,well,isn't that well organized,if it could even be called organized
Basically, they are seperated into 6 categories
1.all of my ranged units;like crossbowmen and archers.

2.melee units on foot;swordsmen,axemen,pikemen,spearmen.

3.knights on foot;ummm.....knights on foot! I usually arm them with shiny swords,crown ovoid shields,KK1 shields and many,many feathers from Bricklink or the 20 plus i have lying around some of them serve as captains for the melee units to make sure they arent running from the field or arent sliceing limbs fast enough

4.knights on horseback; I atleast give each of them a lance and classic sword,and then personally outfit them with plumes and different weapons like flintlock pistols,BF warhammers and crossbows to make each of them look different and unique. They are led by the "Golden Knight" from Drawbridge Defense.

5.Royalty; my royal bodyguard of 8 armed with pikes and the king with a yellow dragon plume and gold sword.

6.Musicians,standard bearers and armed rabble/civilians; the last category is basically anything that doesn't fit into the above categories but are still Castle orienated like my trumpeteers and standard bearers who lead and signal the troops in battle. Sometimes,also, I will arm my hundred plus civilians,most with classic peasent torsos in blue,green or gray, and charge them into battle with 3 pitchforks ,scythes, torches,and anything else I have lying around!

I also have many classic castle people,like forestman and wolfpack,but they just join the mob or stay on the table

[moose]

I organize my men iin 3-4 groups archers is one Knights is another than the normall soldeirs and some times calvary.

[ColonelHawk]

My Lego army is composed of a lot of factions. For the "good" side I consider the Royal Knights King from the mid 90's as the overall leader and every faction since him is under his command. I bought numerous sets with modern city people in them and just got rid of their torso decals and folded them into his army. The crownies and KK and other castle factions all serve him.

I have battled my nephew numerous times, when he was younger and now that he is an adult and I tend to go with a standard deployment.

Center of the army is heavy infantry with lines of light infantry on either side. Each wing has heavy cavalry units and mounted archers to keep from being flanked. behind the center I have ranks of archers, mostly crossbowmen, close to the line so that as the army advances, they advance and pepper the enemy with crossbow bolts. In the very rear I have all my catapults and longbowmen who rain down arrows on the enemy. As I only have about 7 bows it's a light rain for now. Between the main line and the artillery I have my cavalry ready to take advantage of any breakthrough or weakness that forms in the enemy lines and also to bolster any breakthrough we suffer.

My Heavy infantry numbers 100. 50 in silver armor and 50 in black. Each group of 50 is commanded by a captain and there are 5 sergeants under each of the captains.The light infantry is about 200 strong composed of odds and ends figures and peasant conscripts. They are in groups of 20 each of which is commanded by a captain with 2 seregants.

Crossbowmen and archers are under the command of a captain. I field 40 crossbowmen but have 60 more crossbows I could put into soldiers hands at need. The crossbowmen are under the command of one man.

The catapults are crewed by 4 men, one of which is in command. All catapults are commanded by a captain who directs them from behind. He is aided by 3 to 4 spotters and runners who relay his orders to the crews.

The light cavalry are under the command of a captain for every ten of them. The heavy cavalry is mostly knights and they are under the command of a royal prince. The size of the heavy cavalry varies depending on who I put into battle.

That is the organization I use now but it will likely change as my nephew and I evolve our battle rules. It also doesn't take into account castle forces and Kings bodyguard and several custom units I created. I also don't take the "evil" forces into mind when he and I play.

[LordLiam98]

I have never played and/or heard of BrickWars (will look into it, but I have a basic idea of what it is), so my organization isn't in platoons and stuff yet, I organize my army based on weapons and uniform like this for my Imperial Army...

Archers- New lion knight padded armor, conical helmet, light grey pants, bow and quiver(I have very few actual bows, so I use a custom design made by Throndor).
Crossbowmen- Crownie padded armor, conical helmet, light grey pants, crossbow.
Swordsmen-
Crownie or lion chain mail with leather strap across chest, small crownie triangular shield, round helmet with bars down the middle (captain has blue feather), dark grey pants, basic short sword
Lion chain mail with leather strap across chest,light grey pants, small lion triangular shield, round helmet with bars down the middle (captain has red feather), basic short sword.
Spearmen- crownie scale mail armor, crownie triangular shield, conical helmet, light grey pants, spear.
Pikemen- Crownie scale mail, kettle helmet, light grey pants, pike.
Axemen- Crownie chain mail with leather strap across chest, conical helmet, light grey pants, poleaxe.
Knights- Crownie breastplate, light grey pants, any helmet, small triangular or oval-ish (whats it called?) crownie shield (or no shield), any weapon.
Royal Bodyguards- Crownie breastplate, large oval shield, light grey pants, bassinet with visor, shiny long sword.
Lion plated chest, great helm (with red feather), plated knees with chain mail above, large oval shield, basic short sword.

each one has a captain that I have memorized by face or by his feather.
I also have mercenaries, they have no order or uniform, can be hired by any of my factions, and travel in groups of 1 to 4.

[Throndor]

I use factions as subdivisions, primarily. Rather than shaping the faction on the weapon, I shape the weapon on the faction. I have 10 Crownie spearmen, 10 Crownie longbowmen (LEGO made or my design), 5 Crownie Lancers, 10 Crownie Crossbows, and 5 Crownie swordsmen. Rinse and repeat for all the factions. I have the swords and spears alternating to form a main line in a formation like a staircase; from above, it would look like this: flat, then a staircase going up, then down, then up, then down, then flat. Similar the the Roman formation used to decisively defeat the Gauls who were lead by Boudicca at the time. My archers are behind, with the crossbows in front of the longbows. The lancer cavalry stands on the flanks to the rear, behind the heavy cavalry. The light cavalry is outside of the heavy cavalry. When the enemy rout (not IF, but WHEN) the lancers will chase them down and kill lots of people. AND IT WILL BE HILARIOUS. I don't use mounted archers due to their cost and cheat-ish-ness. Always a good time. Kill errythin. I ate your family.

[sir aleks the bold]

i usually stick to crownies but because of shortages ive added dragon knights, my point is that pick a main group as the kings force and then find other figs that have something in common to be the army of an alliance or vassal the king like for me its the gold color because in midieval times the king relied on his barons and earls forces for most of his army

[Stormy Arthur]

That's a pretty consistent organization plan. I would use the word "platoon" vice troop... but that's simply a moderization of the concept about 150 years.

Fun fact both platoon and troop are old concepts, both were used in the first third of the 17th century, and perhaps earlier. A platoon would often be 24 troops led by a Sgt. A facing of 4 soldiers 6 deep was common, the facing of 4 could be doubled still leaving 3 rows of pike. 4x6 was also a very useful facing for matchlocks to keep a constant rate of fire, first 3 rows fire then move to the back to reload as the rear 3 rows move forward to fire. I think the 4x6 was started Gustavus Adolphus KVS, but it might have been a Dutch reform (Maurice perhaps?). The Spanish before that formed 10 deep, but that was a waste of manpower.

Early on pike and shot would have been a 1:1 ratio, but as the 17th century dragged on it became 1:2 pike to shot. a 1:2 ratio would form up thus (assuming at least 3 platoons):

MMMM OOOO MMMM
MMMM OOOO MMMM
MMMM OOOO MMMM
MMMM OOOO MMMM

allowing the pike to deploy forward and the shot to draw together in the event of a cavalry charge:

OOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOO
OOOOOOOO
MMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMM
MMMMMMMM

[WvdP]

It was Maurice of Nassau, prince of Orange (1567-1625) indeed who introduced the concept of the 'contramars' on the battlefield, which made it possible to give constant fire with only 25 musketeers (5x5 formation). His cousins William Louis, count of Nassau-Dillenburg (1560-1620) and John VII, count of Nassau(-Siegen) (1561-1623), and the Justus Lipsius (Leiden University) should be credited for this too.
Gustavus Adolphus improved this tactics and managed to reduce the number of rows to 3. This may be influenced by John of Nassau-Siegen, who had introduced the new tactics to the Swedish army.

[Sir Bragallot]

My armies mostly grew as I developed them for Brikwars, so most of my armies generally consist of groups of 6-man squads which are identically armed. I did this so I can easily switch any items to other squads without having leftovers or worse having too few to complete the squad. Cavalry and specialists usually fight in groups of 4 and I also have a armies that form exceptions to the general rules. My two main forces are based on the feudal principle of different smaller forces becoming one large one - one faction (the Kingdom) is tied together with a red and blue colour scheme.

[FirstInfantry]

I'm starting from scratch, so I can build from the ground up. The plan is for pike units of 20 men each to form the battle line, each troop covering a frontage of 10 men to provide a little extra strength and depth. Archers will be in groups of 16, split 8 & 8 between archers and shield-carriers for them. A small contingent of light cavalry, maybe 25 tops for now, will round them out.

[minifiguresseries]

I have never played and/or heard of BrickWars (will look into it, but I have a basic idea of what it is), so my organization isn't in platoons and stuff yet, I organize my army based on weapons and uniform like this for my Imperial Army...

Archers- New lion knight padded armor, conical helmet, light grey pants, bow and quiver(I have very few actual bows, so I use a custom design made by Throndor).
Crossbowmen- Crownie padded armor, conical helmet, light grey pants, crossbow.
Swordsmen-
Crownie or lion chain mail with leather strap across chest, small crownie triangular shield, round helmet with bars down the middle (captain has blue feather), dark grey pants, basic short sword
Lion chain mail with leather strap across chest,light grey pants, small lion triangular shield, round helmet with bars down the middle (captain has red feather), basic short sword.
Spearmen- crownie scale mail armor, crownie triangular shield, conical helmet, light grey pants, spear.
Pikemen- Crownie scale mail, kettle helmet, light grey pants, pike.
Axemen- Crownie chain mail with leather strap across chest, conical helmet, light grey pants, poleaxe.
Knights- Crownie breastplate, light grey pants, any helmet, small triangular or oval-ish (whats it called?) crownie shield (or no shield), any weapon.
Royal Bodyguards- Crownie breastplate, large oval shield, light grey pants, bassinet with visor, shiny long sword.
Lion plated chest, great helm (with red feather), plated knees with chain mail above, large oval shield, basic short sword.

each one has a captain that I have memorized by face or by his feather.
I also have mercenaries, they have no order or uniform, can be hired by any of my factions, and travel in groups of 1 to 4.

Liked yours and you know what this is similar to what I do.. Is it GMTA?