Men-at-Arms

"Though not noble or powerful like knights, these men take great honour to take up arms in defence of home."

—Description of the peasant warriors of Bretonnia in Total War: Warhammer.^[2]

Men-at-arms are the most basic heavy infantry of the line fielded by the armies of Bretonnia. Those men-at-arms who are equipped with longspears are instead known as "spearmen-at-arms."^[2]

Role

Whilst highborn knights are the true backbone of most Bretonnian armies, the peasants form the overall bulk. In times of war, these peasants often receive no training at all and are simply rounded up and pointed at the enemy. Men-at-arms, on the other hand, are probably the closest thing to a professional soldier a Bretonnian army can field. These soldiers are equipped and trained at the expense of their local lord to fight on his behalf, with recruitment often starting at a relatively young age.^[1a]

HoldingTheLinejpg — Bretonnian men-at-arms valiantly holding the line against hulking Ogres.

Each midsummer, commoners from the surrounding lands will flock to their lord's castle to present their sons in the hopes that they might have the good fortune of being chosen to become a man-at-arms. Fathers often do this as a way to bring honour to their family, and also as a means to give their sons a better life. The young peasants will have been guided towards this goal throughout their entire life, encouraged to stand up straighter and taller than the usual peasant "slouch" to better improve their chances of selection. All morning and afternoon the lord's knights inspect the candidates. By dusk, the luckiest and strongest are selected and taken back to the castle where they are given basic training and outfitted in the livery of their lord.^[1a]

Upon joining, these new recruits are given benefits and opportunities that are near-non-existent within the lower classes of Bretonnian society. Though the quality of these troops can be questionable outside of Bretonnia, men-at-arms are nonetheless better off than their relatives within the countryside. The inductees are given an extravagant bounty for joining, though this all-too-often vanishes as soon as it is given as the new recruits are expected to pay for their new livery, equipment, and even make a contribution to the temples of Shallya, which will care for them when they are sick or injured.^[1a]

The men-at-arms are given room (a rough straw mattress in a barn) and board (thin gruel and stew) and earn a wage for their faithful service. On paper, their wage is quite generous, far exceeding anything a peasant could otherwise legally earn, but what the militiaman actually receives is but a mere fraction of this total, if indeed they receive anything at all. Every conceivable expense is deducted from this salary, from their food and accommodation through to each and every equipment loss and breakage.^[1a]

Every knight needs to maintain a retinue of men-at-arms, whether he is a humble master of a village or the king of Bretonnia himself. A knight's retinue is armed and provisioned at his expense, and so his soldiers wear the livery he provides, often bearing his chosen colour or displaying his heraldic device. Armed with a variety of melee weapons, they are emboldened by the presence of any knight ensuring they do not take flight and battle to the last, as is their vow. While not terribly strong or skillful in comparison to other armies of the Old World, Bretonnian men-at-arms are adequate in providing their lord with a body of troops with which he can safeguard his domains from outside threats.^[1a]^[2]

When their lords are summoned to a distant campaign, these knights will take as many of these troops with them as possible, leaving just enough to properly safeguard their castle and, if need be, shelter the local villagers until they return. When not on a military campaign, these troops perform routine tasks such as watching the borders of their domain and patrolling the lands as local guardsmen.^[1a]^[2]