Thyatian Military Deployments (notional).
by James RuhlandN.B. for this I'm using neither the
terminology of "canon" nor true "Byzantine" terminology, but rather
the terminology I've used so far in posting my (still under
construction and modification) ThyMil Variant. Also, no specific
date on this, so it could be whenever.
Thyatis the City
Guards Regiments
Hetaereia
Augustiana
Scholae
Excubitii
Arithmos
Hicanatoi
Vigili
Imperial Navy
1st
Fleet
2nd
Fleet
1st
Marine Assault Force
1st
Transport Fleet
2nd
Transport Fleet
Imperial Aerial Forces
1st Air
Cavalry Regiment
3rd Air
Cavalry Regiment
Draconari
Militia Forces
1st
Reserve Exercitus
1st
Defenders Exercitus
2nd
Defenders Exercitus
Blue
Deme Militia
Green
Deme Militia
Red
Deme Militia
White
Deme Militia
Thyatis (Ducate)
Land Forces
1st
Exercitus (Optimatoi)
2nd
Exercitus (Bucelarii)
2nd
Reserve Exercitus
3rd
Defenders Exercitus
4th
Defenders Exercitus
Naval Forces
3rd
Fleet (Juliarii)
Kerendas (Ducate)
Land Forces
3rd
Exercitus (Kerendiae)
4th
Exercitus (Foederatoi)
3rd
Reserve Exercitus
5th
Defenders Exercitus
6th
Defenders Exercitus
Naval Forces
4th
Fleet (Kerenda)
Hattias (Ducate)
Land Forces
5th
Exercitus (Hattianoi)
6th
Exercitus (Vaniae)
4th
Reserve Exercitus
7th
Defenders Exercitus
8th
Defenders Exercitus
Naval Forces
5th
Fleet (Pilianoi)
Retebius (Ducate)
Land Forces
7th
Exercitus (Retebii)
8th
Exercitus (Mesonianoi)
5th
Reserve Exercitus
9th
Defenders Exercitus
10th
Defenders Exercitus
Aerial Forces
2nd Air
Cavalry Regiment
4th Air
Cavalry Regiment
Naval Forces
6th
Fleet (Polithiae)
Kantrium (Ducate)
Land Forces
9th
Exercitus (Kantridanoi)
10th
Exercitus (Nicoseanian)
6th
Reserve Exercitus
11th
Defenders Exercitus
12th
Defenders Exercitus
Naval Forces
7th
Fleet (Aurorae)
Machetos (Cleisura)
Land Forces
11th
Exercitus (Machetae)
13th
Defenders Exercitus
Terentias (Cleisura)
Naval Forces
8th
Fleet (Chandian)
4th
Transport Fleet
Vyalia (Cleisura)
Land Forces
12th
Exercitus (Sylvianoi)
14th
Defenders Exercitus
Biazzan (Cleisura)
Land Forces
13th
Exercitus (Nikotianoi)
15th
Defenders Exercitus
Buhrohur (Cleisura)
Land Forces
14th
Exercitus (Makrasti)
16th
Defenders Exercitus
Halathius (Cleisura)
Land Forces
15th
Exercitus (Halathkoi)
17th
Defenders Exercitus
Lucinius (Cleisura)
Naval Forces
9th
Fleet (Lucianioi)
10th
Fleet (Nautiae)
2nd
Marine Assault Force
3rd
Transport Fleet
Carytion (Cleisura)
Naval Forces
11th
Fleet (Actiae)
12th
Fleet (Carytianoi)
3rd
Marine Assault Force
Aerial Forces
5th Air
Cavalry Regiment
7th Air
Cavalry Regiment (Development)
That means that deployed overseas are:
Land Forces
5
Exercitii
4
Reserve Exercitii
3
Defenders Exercitii
Aerial Forces
1 Air
Cavalry Regiment
Naval Forces
6
Fleets
1
Marine Assault Force
Plus various auxiliary (colonial) formations of varying size and
strengths, attached. Note that even for the above forces the
deployment given is basing/garrisoning: these are mobile forces,
not fixed forces. These are however the locations of their military
lands (the Stratiotika Ktemata).
I understand that you are still working on this stuff, but are you comparing population figures with army strengths, and available budgets with the cost of all these forces? Have you already allocated numbers to these units at any rate?
I'm comparing population figures, and have a rough idea of the budget, and the cost (rough only, though). The unit strengths are all worked out, at least for the ones given, though ultimately I plan on dealing with the structure (differentiating the Tagmatic units for example).
I'm keeping the units in the spirit of the "professionalised, regular military" assumption of the PWA War Mach stuff, but also "Byzantinising" it to a degree. How?
Well, for example, the aforementioned Stratiotikon Ktema: troops are partially paid in cash, but also "in kind" through the allotment of military lands, and they are "semi-active". By which I mean that, though, for example, a Thematic Exercitus has a full strength of 2,000, this full-strength is only mobilised completely in wartime. Peacetime strength is 1,100, with the rest on reserve (rotated through the year for training). Mobilisation for these units are quick, a la the Israeli model, and the mid-Byzantine (9th-11th centuries) model.
Similarly, the "Reserve" Exerciti have a fully mobilised strength of 2,000 but active peacetime strength of 560. The Defenders Exerciti are uniformly reserve units (there are also Militia Exerciti below them).
Total strength of the forces I've detailed so far are as follows:
Guard
Forces: 15,200/15,200
Retebius
Air Fleet: 1,200/1,200 (KotA?)
Thematic
Divisions: 22,000/40,000
Naval
Forces: 20,000/29,200
Reserve
Divisions: 5,600/100,000
Grand Total: 64,000/185,600
The first number (before the slash) represents the "active" standing forces at any given time. The number following the slash represents reserve forces. Note that the first number is a fixed value (should stay at 64,000) while the second number will change some as I still have to detail some militia units (notably the Deme militias). This represents a great improvement over the notional "full strength" Thyatian armies described in the PWAs (122,750 personnel, 4% of population) and even the post-WotI nominal Thyatian strengths (70,510). It is slightly over 2% of the PWA population (3,001,000), and slightly under 2% of my notional population (3,420,000). ("KotA" represents "Knights of the Air" which I may detail as a aerial reserve force).
A note on naval nomenclature: not so happy with that so far ("1st Fleet" and "Marine Assault Force" and the like), I've never really found a good "Byzantine" name, for individualised naval forces (I know what to call the commanders: Megas Drungarios, Drungarios, etc).
Further note on nomenclature: for familiarity I have been using "Roman" names of units in what I've posted for general use. The "real" names are different. The basic unit of course is the company, called a Bandon (literally "Banner", thus identical to the basic unit of the War Mac militaries described in X10 and the PWAs). Above that is a "Battalion" level unit which for convenience's sake I've refereed to as a Cohort, but which should be known as a Moira. The Exercitus is the Divisional name I've used since Legion was used for Darokin, but even so the proper name is Turma.
The Bandon is commanded by a Comes, or Count, who has a deputy known as a Illarch, and there are several ranks of sub-commanders as well. The Moira is commanded by a Moirarch, and the Turma by a Turmarch. Armies are commanded by Strategoi, with deputy commanders known as Hypostrageoi.
There is a whole separate ranking system for the Tagmata (Guard units), and it can all get confusing very fast, so I've vastly simplified everything, to the extent of (on my website) using English or roman ranks, but I'm going to convert those. IMO, the same thing that made me draw back from using the "proper" nomenclature is/should be the same thing that will impel me to ultimately use it: the exotic nature makes it distinctive.
Now, as far as strengths: I feel I've somewhat pruned units down as small as I'd like. For tactical reasons each division should have 18 companies (based on tactical deployment suggestions in Byzantine military manuals).
More on budgetary matters: perhaps
that is what I should do next. Post the fiscal outlook, tax
receipts from the land tax, hearth tax, commercial, and other
sources of income. That will give some idea of what we're dealing
with, and following that we'll see if my "ideal" force is possible,
or if further compromises need to be made. Btw, I also have a clear
idea of what pay scales will be for both the army and the civil
service.