The Verdonese Army

The Verdonese Army is the single most successful military organization in all of Granthea. Its focus on tight formations of drilled infantry enabled a scientific warfare style approach and focus on quality equipment enabled the nation to win battles against much larger opponents early on. Even as the nation expanded, the focus on training and equipment allowed the Army to leverage its local levies to the fullest and maintain an effective fighting force throughout a prolonged conflict with minimal popular unrest or economic burden.
While the Feudal nature of the Verdonese social structure has dictated the Army's organization, a meritocratic flavor added to its edge on the battlefield. Nobles were incentivized to find the best leaders and fighters, group them together, ensure their loyalty, and maintain them in a constant state of readiness to supplement their own martial duties. This eventually led to a strong core of professional elites called the White Guards that were preferred instruments of the Kingdom of Verdon to deal with uprisings and incursions too big for the Yeomanry to handle. Eventually these elites would become the Imperial army.

Composition

Equipment

Rank and file levy infantry were issued a standard steel bowl helmet and a brigandine, a suit of leather or canvas armor with steel plates stitched inside. The armor provided cursory protection, but on the whole they were expected to deal with heavily armed troops at range using their pikes. Archers were similarly outfitted.
Verdonese heavy infantry were composed of elite fighters, generally either White Guards or their "apprentices" (veteran levied soldiers who were White Guard candidates or trainees). They were responsible for procuring their own equipment but were given visored helmets, a curiass, and simple strapped arm and leg guards upon induction. Veterans were able to buy themselves a wide range of equipment, being given access to the same skilled royal smiths as the nobles. As a result, a White Guard formation could often be rather motley in appearance but was formidable on the battlefield. White Guard formations were unified by white shields and standards that were enchanted to repel blood and stay pure-looking even during the fiercest of battles.
The cavalry of the Verdonese army are nobles highly trained in mounted warfare. They wear ornately decorated full plate armor and ride barded mounts, generally horses but also mamephants (mammoth-like creatures native to the southern plains) and dire wolves.

Weaponry

The favored weapon of the Verdonese rank and file was the Glaviure, a long Glaive forked at a right angle to a tapered point. Simple to mass produce and intuitive to use, the Glaviure enabled Verdonese infantry to easily unhorse mounted Knights and pierce their armor while packed into tight formations. The infantry also were issued long daggers for close combat, and the front rank would sometimes carry shields as well, especially when a heavy enemy infantry or archer presence was anticipated.
White Guards often used Glaviures as well, but many used tower shields and longswords. Greatswords, Battle Axes, and Warhammers were also common. While the choice of weapon was not standardized across units, the units chose to focus on either a single weapon or combination of two load outs that complemented one another, taking care to ensure that each soldier had mastered every weapon in use by the unit before they were allowed on the battlefield with their brothers and sisters in arms.

Tactics

The infantry drill was the main innovation of the Verdonese Army and this made a range of maneuvers available to commanders on the battlefield. While their opponents would simply charge in massed formations, the Verdonese units could change shape and maneuver together so as to repel or trap charging foes that could then be finished off by cavalry. Verdonese generals preferred staggered or centralized deployments that could use the mobility and discipline of their units to adapt to battlefield conditions. Front guard formations could move laterally to create openings and have the rear guard advance into the breach. If the front line was bogged down, the rear guard could move around to flank and surround the enemy.
Generals would either be trained in magical communication or have a staff warmage whose specific job was to relay their commands to unit leaders, which allowed instantaneous communication and minimized misunderstandings.

Training

Part of every Noble's duty was to ensure that their local peasant levies participated in drills at least three weeks (21 days) out of every year to maintain readiness. For this reason every large settlement had a fallow field or open sporting area where the levy could be made to practice maneuvers. Generally these maneuver trainings would take place after major farming events such as plantings and harvests or around holidays, so that a feast could be laid out for the participants to reward them for their work. However it was up to a Margrave how to schedule and implement these days of training.
In some areas, large quantities of silver would be thrown onto the field during the maneuvers, and anyone who stopped to pick up a coin would be punished severely. After the training, the peasants would be allowed to pick up the coins strewn across the training fields as payment for the day. In other areas, the training would take on a festival-like air with competitions and lotteries that would reward the skilled or lucky for their participation.
In certain areas, readiness was so well-maintained that civilians under threat from monsters or brigands would spontaneously form up and fight using their farm implements. The prospect of an uprising by a militarily trained populace, along with the watchful eye of the yeomanry, was a major check on noble power and helped ensure fair treatment of the peasantry. During the war in the 10s PE, Centralians noted that a single Verdonese peasant could fight off two or three of their Centralian counterparts with only a pitchfork.
During times of war, civilian drills would be conducted at a much more elevated pace. Levied troops and armies would drill every day even whilst bivouacked in order to maintain peak efficiency. The highly centralized and structured nature of Verdonese society allows the entire kingdom to enter a total war footing, with levies rotated in and out of service to prevent the population from becoming too depleted and ensure the flow of food and goods to the army.

Overall training Level

Trained