An attempt to roughly categorize the types of armies that most commonly appear in various historical, mythic-fantasy and science-fantasy contexts.
This is the layout of an archetype template:
| category | notes |
|---|---|
| archetype | {name} |
| themes | {keywords} |
| fantastic | {keywords} |
| examples | {list} |
| government | {text} |
| motivation | {text} |
| territory | {text} |
| rankings | {relative} |
| tactics | {text} |
| line troops | {list} |
| specialists | {list} |
These templates are attempting to condense a near endless amount of history, myth and legend through to mass market media like novels, games, movies, and shows, into a single trope style summary. As such, they are by necessity not even remotely exhaustive. The values presented should be taken as common or most typical ones, not as any form of requirement or absolute recipe. Various instances of an archetype may differ from these individual values, depending on the exact setting and genre, local history and resources, etc.
There can be significant overlap between archetypes, and any one force could potentially be labeled with multiple archetypes. Warhammer 40k Orks, taken as a whole, would be an example of Waaaagh, but in any given battle, campaign, or story they could present as Marauders, Forge Tyrants, or Gluttons, depending on the needs of the narrative, the exact composition of forces or even just the type of their activities.
Since many archetypes derive from an amalgamation
of real human historical cultures,
the entry for fantastic is a summary
of the things that take from the cultural myths, legend and fantasy
as well as modern pop-culture interpretations thereof,
and make that archetype suitable for a fantastical setting.
This can include real things mythologized
into something beyond actual history,
such as sacred animals and heraldic beasts that join battles,
ninja clouding minds and stealing faces,
shamans and druids invoking spirits or manipulating the elements for aid,
viking or celtic berserkers warping into bestial forms,
hoplites fighting against or alongside centaurs and satyrs,
and mystery cults being directly answered and aided by their patrons.
Generally this will include common intelligent beings that are not human, common magical traditions, types of special abilities, and types of creatures that either join a force or serve as the basis for fantastic creatures.
For example, the ancient Greeks were big believers in divination, in the form of oracles, had a variety of mystery cults around their various gods, had many stories which included part-men, part-animals, like centaurs and satyrs, and had both important rites and stories where bulls were objects of sacrifice, worship, or plot devices.
These are the current options for the faction attributes.
In the case of the rating listings, only the notable ones are recorded. This does not mean they're necessarily the only ones high or low, just that those particular aspects of the archetype are commonly expected.
Line troops make up the largest bulk of any given force in most battles, while Specialists are those that appear in smaller proportions, due to being considered elite or rare, or only deployed when engaging in battle under certain conditions.
As in more general template attributes, these are only typical or common configurations, as examples to inform an archetype's overall strategies and tactics, not absolutes or limits. A Crusader coded army of WHFB Witch Hunters might field Hordes instead of Shooters, to represent angry mobs and flagellant types, and have Hussite style war-wagons as Infernal Machines, even if those are not normally listed troop types for that archetype.
Troop types are roughly derived from WRG-style games, such as De Bellis Fantasiae, Hordes of the Things, or similar related games, with a few changes and additions to more concisely and accurately represent multi-era archetypes, as well as cover some fantasy troops that the WRG heritage does not handle well. In this style troops are not defined by their exact weapons and armor, but by the role they play on the battlefield.
Rename Infernal Machines to Vehicles or similar? Rename Light Mounted to Outriders? Rename Auxilia. To what? Light Blade is not better. Separate Great Flyers into melee (creature) and ranged (airship)? Add a Ranger type for purely ranged skirmishers like snipers? Check HoTT/DBx variants for possible differentiation on shooter types, such as shotte/musket/dragoons/etc Generic era rename for Blade/Spear/Pike and maybe Knight? Assault, Line, ?, Shock Cavalry
Troops may have some form of "ranged" weapons like javelins, pilum, light bows, slings, pistols, etc. But if they are not used for long range massed volley fire and instead are mostly used at close distances right before a clash or firing back while evading such clashes, it is considered part of the unit's melee capability. This means Skirmishers and Light Mounted among others are "melee" units despite their bows, slings, javelins and so on, as they approach to near melee distance, shoot individually, and then retreat. Only units dedicated to coordinated ranged firepower and deliberately avoiding all close melee are classed as Shooters, Artillery, or Infernal Machines.
In later eras, "melee" expands to include short and some mid range firefights. Pistols, shotguns, submachine guns, carbines, and most assault-type rifles are all used from close enough to be considered part of a melee. Pure short range firepower mixed with direct melee, are still classed as Blades, Brutes, Auxilia, Warband, or Hordes, depending on fighting style and relative defenses. Units with some amount of mid-range firepower, such as tercio-style arquebus and muskets in the Early Modern period, and later on powerful battle rifles or integrated squad support weapons, are classed as Spear or Pike to represent their stand-off capabilities. Mechanized troops with dedicated APC/IFVs are treated as mounted types, with transported Blades/Spear/Brutes being Knights, transported Pike/Auxilia/Warband being Cavalry, and transported Skirmishers being Light Mounted. AFVs can be classed as Infernal Machines or mounted types, depending on if they are focused long range attacks and lack defensive weapons, or if they engage closer and have sponsons or other anti-infantry mountings.
Example troop classing for Warhammer 40,000:
This mostly feels pretty good, except Blade/Spear/Pike and maybe Knights and Dragons, and the cross-era issue of Auxilia, Light Mounted, and Infernal Machines
Consider a D&D 4e class style with a dual-axis to help identify magical traditions.
Combine one(-ish) of each category.
Possible examples:
Examples of mapping various forces in settings to archetypes.
| type | pr. race | plan |
|---|---|---|
| Aetheriels | Outsider | (Demons/Angels/Spirits) |
| Brayherd | Beastkin | (Goats/Bulls) |
| Cruel Ones | Elves | Dark Elves → Dark Eldar |
| Crusaders | Men | (split Knights) → Teutonic → SM Templars |
| Cultists | Snakemen | Parz → Zahhak → CSM Alpha Legion |
| Deep Tribes | Goblins | (Moria) → (Grots) |
| Elector Princes | Men | (Holy Roman Empire, WHFB Empire) |
| Fair Ones | Elves | High Elves, Noldor → Craftworld Eldar |
| Forge Tyrants | Man-Orcs | Black Orcs → Space Nazis? |
| Gluttons | Ogres | Ogres |
| Hillclans | Men | Scotti/Picti, Dunlanders, etc |
| Horse Lords | Men | Arthurian/Bretons → Space Mechanized IG |
| Knights | Men | Normans → Feudal → Knight Titan Houses |
| Legions | Men | Spartacus → Rome → Space Roman IG |
| Old Ones | Old Ones | (Lizardmen/Saurians/Snakemen) |
| Phalanx | Men | Sparta/Akros → SM Minotaurs |
| Marauders | Men | Vikings/Stormreavers → CSM Night Lords |
| Samurai | Men | Yayoi/Kofun → Samurai → Space Samurai/Tau |
| Stalkers | Undead | (Vampires/Ghouls/Wolves/Bats) |
| Stonekin | Dwarves | (Moria/Erebor) |
| Sunlancers | Men | Mythic Persia/Parz, Near-Haradrim and Umbar |
| Swarm | Bugs | ('nids/zerg) |
| Ungrateful Dead | Undead | Skeletal Hordes → Space Undead Robots |
| Waaaagh | Orcs | Wild Orcs → Space Orks |
| Wild Ones | Elves | Wood Elves, Mirkwood? → Killer Clowns? |
| Wyrdsmiths | Ratmen | (Skaven/Vermintide/Gnomes) |
| mesbg force | template |
|---|---|
| Dead of Dunharrow | Aetherials |
| Dwarf Holds | Stonekin |
| Elven Kingdoms | Fair Ones |
| Gondor, Arnor | Knights + Hillclans |
| Numenor | Fair Ones |
| Harad | Sunlancers and Cultists |
| Rohan | Horse Lords |
| Angmar | Marauders + Ungrateful Dead |
| Easterlings | Sunlancers and/or Horse Lords? |
| Isengard | Forge Tyrants + Marauders |
| Khand | NONE (Kievian Rus) |
| Mordor | Forge Tyrants + Waaaagh + Deep Tribes |
| Moria | Deep Tribes |
| Umbar | Sunlancers |
MESBG mislabels Wainriders (an Easterling tribe) as Khand, while canon Khand has almost no description except the name Variargs, which likely makes them meant to be representative of the Kievan Rus (formed from a mixture of Slavs and Varangians, Norse Viking Mercenaries).
| 40k force | template |
|---|---|
| Adepta Sororitas | Legion/Crusaders |
| Adeptus Mechanicus | Legion/Wyrdsmiths |
| Chaos Daemons | Aetheriels |
| Chaos Space Marines | Marauders/Cultists/Crusaders/Knights |
| Dark Eldar | Cruel Ones |
| Dark Mechanicus | Forge Tyrants |
| Eldar | Fair Ones |
| Genestealer Cult | Cultists |
| Harlequin | Wild Ones |
| Imperial Guard | Legions |
| Knight Houses | Knights |
| Leagues of Votann | Stonekin |
| Lost and the Damned | Legion/Cultists |
| Necrons | Ungrateful Dead |
| Orks | Waaaagh |
| Space Marines | Crusaders/Phalanx/Knight |
| Tau | Samurai |
| Knight Houses | Knights |
| Tyranids | Swarm |