Sunday, June 12, 2016

Simple Sample Orcish Domains

By request from Koewn, and in the style of Civilized Sample Simple Domains.  Here I am operating under the assumptions that they have captured a crumbling stronghold and are the sole occupiers of their hexes.

Orcish Sept
  • Size: 1 6-mile hex
  • Population: 188 rural families, 19 "urban" families.  283 adult male orcs, 238 adult females, 475 children, and 95 slaves is an average size for an orc lair.
  • Net domain income: 520 gp/mo if independent, 170 gp/mo if tributary
  • Market: Class VI hamlet in vicinity of stronghold
  • Gives liege lord: 350 gp/mo if tributary
  • Ruler max level from domain XP: 5th if independent, 4th if tributary
  • Stronghold value: 22.5 kgp
  • Garrison: 0.6 kgp/mo, 1 platoon of ogre light infantry ("the brute squad")
  • Militia: 1 platoon veteran orcish heavy infantry (champions), 4 platoons orcish heavy infantry, 2 platoons orcish archers, 1 platoon orcish light infantry, 4 platoons "goblin" archers (orcish women fight as goblins, and half qualify as archers), 4 platoons "goblin" light infantry.  If organized as companies (and a 5HD chieftain can command at company-scale), probably 1 company orcish heavy infantry, 1 company orcish light infantry, 1 company goblin archers, 1 company goblin light infantry.
    • Note that fielding the entire militia plus the ogres is ~5 kgp in supply+wages per month, which vastly outstrips domain income.  It's basically impossible to field a useful amount of troops on a 500gp/mo budget, so you have to raid, and you have to do it fast before you run out of cash to pay your orcs.
  • Pillaging:
    • Requires 600 troops and 1 day
    • Yields 2.2 kgp in gold, 5.7 kgp in supplies, and 4.6 kgp in prisoners
    • Net income reduced to 185 gp/mo and garrison to 271 gp/mo
    • It costs 22.9 kgp to unpillage a sept
    • A total militia wipe has economic consequences similar to being pillaged.
  • Razing
    • Requires 600 troops and 4 days
    • Yields 4.1 kgp in gold, 10.3 kgp in supplies, and 8.3 kgp in prisoners
      • Nominal treasure for an average orcish village is Gx5.5, or about 11 kgp before prisoners, so this is a little high but not by all that much
    • Domain destroyed
Orcish Clan
  • Size: 1 6-mile hex, with two septs joined under a single chieftain by marriage or conquest (pushing population density up to civilized).  Development characterized by religiously-justified hereditary nobility, social stratification, infrastructure projects (I'm thinking Diamond's description of Hawaiian chiefdoms in Guns, Germs, and Steel).
  • Population: 376 rural families, 38 "urban" families.  This is close to the upper limit for beastman population density (390 rural families per hex)
  • Net domain income: 1.6 kgp/mo, 0.9 kgp/mo if tributary
  • Market: Class VI hamlet in vicinity of stronghold
  • Gives liege lord: 0.7 kgp/mo if tributary
  • Ruler max level from domain income: 7HD if independent, 6HD if tributary
  • Stronghold value: 15 kgp (presumably they didn't so much tear down the old borderlands-grade stronghold as let maintenance lapse)
  • Garrison: 0.8 kgp/mo, platoon of ogre light infantry and platoon of orc light infantry?
  • Militia: 2 platoons veteran orcish heavy infantry, 2 companies orcish heavy infantry, 1 company orcish archers, 2 platoons orcish light infantry, 2 companies goblin archers, 2 companies goblin light infantry
  • Pillaging:
    • Requires 600 troops and 1 day
    • Yields 4.3 kgp in gold, 11.4 kgp in supplies, 9.1 kgp in prisoners
    • Net income reduced to 0.7 kgp/mo, garrison to 0.4 kgp/mo
    • Costs to 45.8 kgp to unpillage
    • Militia wipe has economic consequences comparable to pillage
  • Razing:
    • Requires 600 troops and 4 days
    • Yields 8.3 kgp in gold, 20.7 kgp in supplies, and 16.6 kgp in prisoners
    • Domain destroyed
 Orcish Tribe:
  • Size: 2 hexes, each containing 2 septs
  • Population: 752 rural families, 76 urban families
  • Net domain income: 3.1 kgp/mo, 1.7 kgp/mo if tributary
  • Market: Class VI Small Village
  • Gives liege lord: 1.4 kgp/mo in taxes if tributary
  • Ruler max level from domain XP: 8th if independent, 7th if tributary
  • Stronghold value: 30 kgp
  • Garrison: 1.7 kgp/mo, platoon of ogre heavy infantry
  • Militia: company of orcish veteran heavy infantry, 4 companies orcish heavy infantry, 2 companies orcish archers, 1 company orcish light infantry, 4 companies goblin archers, 4 companies goblin light infantry
  • Pillaging:
    • Requires 2400 troops and 1d3 days
    • Yields 8.7 kgp in gold, 22.8 kgp in supplies, and 18.2 kgp in prisoners
    • Net income reduced to 1.4 kgp/mo, garrison to 0.7 kgp/mo
    • Costs 91.3 kgp to unpillage
    • Militia wipe has economic consequences similar to pillage
  • Razing
    • Requires 2400 troops and 4d3 days
    • Yields 16.5 kgp in gold, 41.4 kgp in supplies, and 33.1 kgp in prisoners
    • Domain destroyed
Orcish March:
  • Size: 4 hexes, each containing 2 septs
  • Population: 1505 rural families, 150 urban families
  • Net domain income: 6.3 kgp/mo, 3.5 kgp/mo if tributary
  • Market: Village, class V
  • Gives liege lord: 2.8 kgp in taxes if tributary
  • Ruler max level from domain XP: 9th if independent, 8th if tributary
  • Stronghold value: 60 kgp
  • Garrison: 3.3 kgp/mo, two platoons of ogre heavy infantry
  • Militia: two companies orcish veteran heavy infantry, 8 companies orcish heavy infantry, 4 companies orcish archers, 2 companies orcish light infantry, 8 companies goblin archers, 8 companies goblin light infantry
    • At this point you could take the 44 subchieftains and any of the 8 chieftains that you're not using as commanders, put them on boars, and have a superveteran shock cavalry company if you really wanted.  Probably more useful for raiding than battalion-scale defensive engagements that use the full militia.
  • Pillaging:
    • Requires 2400 troops and 1d3 days
    • Yields 17.4 kgp in gold, 45.5 kgp in supplies, and 36.4 kgp in prisoners
    • Net income reduced to 2.7 kgp/mo, garrison to 1.5 kgp/mo
    • Costs 182.8 kgp to unpillage
    • Militia wipe has economic consequences similar to pillage
  • Razing
    • Requires 2400 troops and 4d3 days
    • Yields 33.1 kgp in gold, 82.7 kgp in supplies, and 66.2 kgp in prisoners
    • Domain destroyed
 Orcish Horde:
  • Size: 16 6-mile hexes, each containing two septs, 1 24-mile hex
  • Population: 6019 rural families, 602 urban families (if free), or 301 urban families (if subject)
  • Net domain income: 25.2 kgp/mo if free, 14.5 kgp if subject
  • Market: Small town or large village, class V
  • Gives liege lord: 11 kgp in taxes, 300 urban families
  • Ruler max level from domain XP: 11th if free, 10th if subject
  • Stronghold value: 240 kgp
  • Garrison: 13 kgp (actually varies slight for free vs subject, but I'm not gonna worry about it), 2 companies ogre heavy infantry and misc other monsters
  • Militia: One battalion superveteran orcish boar cavalry, two battalions veteran orcish heavy infantry, 8 battalions orcish heavy infantry, 4 battalions orcish archers, 2 battalions orcish light infantry, 8 battalions goblin archers, 8 battalions goblin light infantry.  Hooooly shit.  Even without the goblins they outnumber the forces of a prepared vassal county (ie, human realm of the same size) by more than two to one.  Horde mode working as intended.  Granted, they still suffer the two classic orc problems: can't pay their troops, and can't command their troops at this scale.  Maybe the point of feudalism in ACKS is to make sure you have subcommanders capable of commanding armies at close to the scale of your domain?
  • Pillaging
    • Requires 7200 troops and 1d4 days
    • Pillaging a free horde yields 69.5 kgp in gold, 182 kgp in supplies, and 145.7 kgp in prisoners.
    • Pillaging a subject horde yields 66.4 kgp in gold, 173.8 kgp in supplies, and 139 kgp in prisoners
    • A pillaged free horde has a net income of 11 kgp/mo, 6 kgp/mo garrison, and costs 731.6 kgp to rebuild
    • A pillaged subject horde has a net income of 6.2 kgp/mo, 5.7 kgp/mo garrison, 5 kgp in taxes, and costs 698.4 kgp to rebuild
    • Market remains class V in both cases
    • Militia wipe has economic consequences similar to pillage
  • Razing
    • Requires 7200 troops and 4d4 days
    • Razing a free horde yields 132.4 kgp in gold, 331.1 kgp in supplies, and 264.8 kgp in prisoners
    • Razing a subject horde yields 126.4 kgp in gold, 316 kgp in supplies, and 252.8 kgp in prisoners
    • Domain is destroyed
Orcish Ilkhanate (Under-khanate)
  • Vassals: 5 subject hordes
  • Size: One 24-mile hex, plus 5 24-mile hexes held by subjects
  • Population: 6019 rural families, 1051 urban families
  • Net domain income: 51.8 kgp/mo
  • Market: Large town, class IV
  • Gives liege lord: 22.7 kgp/mo, 1050 supported families
  • Ruler max level from domain XP: 12th
  • Minimum stronghold value: 240 kgp
  • Garrison: 14.1 kgp/mo, 2-3 companies ogre heavy infantry
  • Militia: uhhh shit.  Honestly it's not much bigger than a horde's; ilkhanates have about two sept's worth of extra population, which doesn't really register when you're talking tens of battalions.  The main difference is ilkhanates can actually pay all of their heavy infantry without going bankrupt.
  • Pillaging:
    • Requires 7200 troops and 1d4 days
    • Yields 74.2 kgp in gold, 194.4 kgp in supplies, and 155.5 kgp in prisoners
    • Market downgraded to class V, small town
    • Net income falls to 44.3 kgp/mo, garrison falls to 6.4 kgp/mo, tax falls to 16.3 kgp/mo
    • Costs 781.2 kgp to unpillage
    • Militia wipe has economic effects equivalent to pillage
  • Razing:
    • Requires 7200 troops and 4d4 days
    • Yields 141.4 kgp in gold, 353.5 kgp in supplies, and 282.8 kgp in prisoners
    • Domain destroyed
Orcish Khanate
  • Subject to an orcish khaganate
  • Vassals: 5 ilkhanates
  • Size: 1 24-mile hex, plus 30 24-mile hexes held by subjects
  • Population: 6019 rural families, 2926 urban families
  • Net domain income: 89 kgp/mo
  • Market: City, class III
  • Gives liege lord: 35.7 kgp/mo, 2925 urban families
  • Ruler max level from domain XP: 13th
  • Minimum stronghold value: 240 kgp
  • Garrison: 17.9 kgp/mo, three companies of ogre heavy infantry
  • Militia: About one and a half times that of a horde.  So one battalion of superveteran boar cavalry, three battalions veteran heavy infantry, 12 battalions orcish heavy infantry, 6 battalions orcish archers, 3 battalions orcish light infantry, 12 battalions goblin archers, 12 battalions goblin light infantry.  Or, in brigades, one brigade veteran heavy infantry (the subchiefs can join them I guess), 3 brigades orcish heavy infantry, one brigade orcish archers, one brigade orcish light infantry, three brigades each of goblin archers and light infantry.
  • Pillaging:
    • Requires 12000 troops and 1d6 days
    • Yields 93.9 kgp in gold, 246 kgp in supplies, and 196.8 kgp in prisoners
    • Market reduced to small city, class IV
    • Net income reduced to 83.5 kgp/mo, garrison to 8.1 kgp/mo, tax to 28.5 kgp/mo
    • Costs 988.3 kgp to unpillage a khanate's seat
  • Razing:
    • Requires 12000 troops and 4d6 days
    • Yields 178.9 kgp in gold, 447.3 kgp in supplies, and 357.8 kgp in prisoners
    • Domain destroyed

Orcish Khaganate (khan of khans)
  • Subject to none.
  • Vassals: 5 khanates
  • Size: 1 24-mile hex, plus 155 24-mile hexes held by subjects
  • Population: 6019 rural families, 15227 urban families
  • Net domain income: 172.9 kgp/mo
  • Market: Large City, class II
  • Ruler max level from domain XP: 14th
  • Minimum stronghold value: 240 kgp
  • Garrison: 42.5 kgp/mo, two battalions of ogre heavy infantry
  • Militia: About three and a half times that of a horde.  Rounding to 4 for ease of use.  One brigade of superveteran boar cavalry, three brigades veteran heavy infantry, 12 brigades orcish heavy infantry, 6 brigades orcish archers, 3 brigades orcish light infantry, 12 brigades goblin archers, 12 brigades  goblin light infantry.  Again, outnumbers the field army of an equivalent human domain (imperial seat) by a wide margin - 49 brigades vs their 15.  Still cannot hope to supply all those troops.
  • Pillaging:
    • Requires 24000 troops and 1d8 days
    • Yields 223.1 kgp in gold, 584.3 kgp in supplies, and 467.4 kgp in prisoners
    • Market remains a large city, class II
    • Net income reduced to 166.6 kgp/mo (it turns out that orcish urban families are net-negative, even in large cities - 4gp/mo urban income, vs 1.6 gp/mo in festival, 1.5 gp/mo in upkeep, 2gp/mo in garrison = 5.1gp/mo expenses.  So losing 7500 urban families is actually good for income... but bad for militia troop limits), garrison to 19.1 kgp/mo
    • Costs 2,347.7 kgp to unpillage a khaganate's seat
    • Losing all of your militia has economic consequences similar to being pillaged
  • Razing:
    • Requires 24000 troops and 4d8 days
    • Yields 424.9 kgp in gold, 1,062.3 kgp in supplies, and 849.8 kgp in prisoners
    • Domain destroyed
Hmm.  Maybe I should've set urban population fraction lower?  That would help solve the economic "can't feed my troooops" problem.

7 comments:

  1. Well thanks!

    There's a lot here; it may take me a bit to digest.

    I really like the implications of presenting the default orc lair as a domain. A domain full of combatants, as you note, can't be paid as such (same would go for dwarves and elves, technically?). If orcs ain't raiding, they're sitting around doing peasanting, which they hate. So, you raid instead, with the express purpose of acquiring enough loot that you've paid them in full or more for that month.

    That, then, implies that within a ~2 week march range of their lair, there is enough regenerating loot-value in other domains (beastman or otherwise) that they can make a regular go of it; or, they're going to be nomadic. One might define that for raiding cultures, beastmen, Mongols, Dothraki, whatever, part of their domain morale calculation is "time since last paid as their troop type".

    Successful orcs, by luck or L&E-derived higher stats, will attract more followers, and start growing into those hordes you worked up. As those domains get larger and harder to manage, due to the problem of beastman leadership, perhaps a lot of that looting gets systematically converted into regular tribute - the "pay to go away" system - so that the upper echelons of those khanates are drawing regular wealth from productive domains to pay off their own sub-domains to stay in power.

    Maybe having an orcish khanate within a particular hex distance means that you're making a choice between extra garrison costs and an increased chance/regularity of raids or a complete razing of your kingdom versus paying off the Khan for smaller, localized raids (gotta exercise the youngins) and continued existence, protection-racket style.

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  2. Damn, got scooped by the Axioms release today. Guess I might have to revise some of this.

    Orcish peasanting probably has a lot in common with Icelandic peasanting, with multigenerational blood feuds begun by grazing your goats on Lubguk's pasture. I'm sure they find ways to keep it exciting.

    This also suggests another approach to orcish economics, namely Spartorcs, with a massive slave population feeding a tiny military elite who can suppress revolts... Actually that would play really well with hobgoblins tropes.

    As your two-week range highlights, a raiding economy really benefits from horses or ships. Orcish infantry are fast for infantry (24 miles a day, so really like 12-16 miles a day with terrain), but I still doubt that pillaging is sustainable. Nomad orcs kind of make sense, but then they'd have to repeatedly find or clear hexes with strongholds in order to establish a domain each time they move.

    I like the danegeld (orcgeld?) idea a lot. At some point the vassalization / tax to liege mechanics work pretty well for tribute.

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  3. ...and it kinda looks like the latest Autarch Patreon is something that's going to be very informative to this very subject...

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  4. This is splendid stuff, John! On first read, I think your work is probably broadly compatible with what I just released.

    Please take a look at the new Axioms release and let me know what you think.

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  5. Yeah, it looks like mostly we have different conceptions on just how civilized/densely-populated orcs can get; other than that it works out pretty similarly I think.

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  6. I haven't played ACKS, but how does a stat like "6019 rural families" come into play? Is this just a number to give a sense of the place, or can you take d6x100 familes' worth of damage from kingdom-level attacks or something?

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  7. Michael: Being pillaged does reduce population, and falling below certain population thresholds results in the domain reverting to borderlands or wilderness. Mostly population is the primary determiner of domain income, though; I included it because it made keeping track of things easier for me while writing, and it serves as a useful reference point for comparison with domains operating under the full rules.

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