Use the Military Formation template to describe types of military formations, such as specialized battalions, logistics units, and combat mage squads.
Contents
What should I use this template for?
Military formations are prototypes of military units. For example, you'd use this template for a "Clone Commando" from Star Wars; but to write about Clone Force 99 (a specific Clone Commando), you'd use the Organization template instead.
Some other examples of military formations in fiction are:
- Sappers, from Malazan: units of combat engineers, known for their expertise in explosives.
- Fedaykin, from Dune: groups of guerrilla fighters or personal guard (depending on the historical time).
- Bridge teams, from The Stormlight Archive: slave teams forced to carry massive bridges for the army.
- Survey Corps squads, from Attack on Titan: recon units made of elite soldiers.
Many users on World Anvil also use Military Formation articles to write about specific units based on these prototypical formations. While this wasn't what this template was designed to be, you can certainly use it in this way! Just like all other features on World Anvil, templates are tools that you can use in whatever way fits your world the best.
Template walkthrough
As always, remember that all prompts are optional, and some might not be relevant to you. There's a free-writing section at the top (which we call vignette) and the prompts are under the "+ Prompts" button in the bottom toolbar. In the Military Formation template, the prompts are organized in three sections:
- Composition: Use this to talk about the typical composition of the formation. What's its hierarchy and what assets does it have?
- Logistics: How does this formation type manage its logistical and support needs? And how does it recruit new members?
- History: How has this formation changed throughout history? Does it still exist?
Feature recommendations for military formations
Here are some suggestions to use other features with military formations:
- Content Trees: use them to display a visual and interactive graph of the formation's structure and hierarchy.
- Timelines: display an interactive history of the formation.
Step-by-step guide to writing a military formation
Here are some steps you can follow to create a military formation!
- Who created it, and why?
Or, in other words, what's the reason for this formation to exist? It could be for a specific goal, because of the methods they use to fight, or something else. Look at your world's history around the time this formation was created, and see what would make sense! If a new military technology was developed, a new formation type could be created to employ it. If a war was going on, maybe a country needed a special type of unit they didn't have until then. - What do people think about them?
Do people fear them? Do they think they're a waste of resources? These answers will depend both on what's going on in the world and how this formation acts. For example, in a war, people might have a positive view of their country's army; but if that army is acting in a way that people don't like, they might turn against them. In times of peace, people might just want to eliminate some formations altogether; for example, in A Song of Ice and Fire, many people see the Night's Watch as something not worth maintaining. - How do they operate?
These are the nitty-gritty details about the logistics of this formation. The amount of details will depend on how you want to present them, as well as how important they are to the story. Consider how they fit together with the rest of the army (or whatever structure they're a part of), as well as the type of conflict they are supposed to act in.
Community examples for inspiration
Need some inspiration? Here are some military formation articles written by our amazing community!
