Law enforcement:City Watch: These troops are usually equipped with long spears, pistols and helmets, with a few rare musket and cavalry units. Their duty is to keep the peace in the cities, as well as acting as a garrison force.
Gendarmerie: As the City Watch polices the city, the Gendarmerie polices the countryside. Their forces are made up of infantry and cavalry in equal numbers, as they cover much more ground than their urban counterparts. In times of war, their duty becomes that of a military police, maintaining order among other military units, preventing looting and pursuing deserters.
Infantry:Line Infantry: The bread and butter of the Astalian army. These are the average soldiers, fighting with muskets and bayonets. They hold the line, overwhelm enemy formations with disciplined volleys and bayonet charges; and as the cavalry usually does most of the killing, the line infantry usually does most of the dying.
Grenadiers: These soldiers are professionals, selected for their size, strength and courage. They act as shock troops, storming a position with a hail of grenades and then holding it against anything and everything, down to their bayonets if needs be.
Light Rifles: Where line infantry and Grenadiers act in large formations, facing the enemy head-on, the light rifles are agile, fast-moving troops invaluable for their scouting and skirmishing abilities, able to harass the enemy with precise shots and retreating before a significant response can be deployed against them. They account for the most endurant of the human troops, and the fastest of the eosauri.
Cavalry:Dragoons: It is more accurate to speak of "horse infantry" when mentioning the dragoons. They mount the slowest horses in the army, using them to get in position then dismounting to fight on foot. Most useful for taking control of strategic positions before the enemy.
Hussards: Armed with sabers, these dashing light cavalrymen are a polyvalent unit, often scouting ahead of the battle and then waiting for any opportunity to engage exposed enemy units. They also have the critical role of protecting Astalian supply lines and raiding the enemy's.
Lancers: The nature of their weapon make the lancers a unit of shock cavalry, designed to punch through enemy infantry and cavalry alike as they take advantage of their weapon's reach, especially when compared to bayonets.
Chasseurs: In contrast to the dragoons, the chasseurs fight on horseback. They are an elite formation able to shoot at the enemy while keeping themselves out of reach, or to close in with a saber charge should the opportunity present itself.
Cuirassiers: This heavy cavalry is a callback from older days. Fast and armored, the cuirassiers are the most imposing men in the entire army, appearing as litteral giants to most. They rely on the sheer terror that a massive charge of heavy cavalry instills in the average soldier to break enemy formations before contact is even made, their thick breastplate granting them added survivability to musket fire as they charge with swords and pistols.
Artillery:Field guns: Cannons of all sizes and caliber. Used to pound fortifications into the ground and break apart enemy formations, making them vulnerable to other units. Astalian generals are well-versed in the art of artillery battles, concentrating fire from heavy and light guns alike to decimate some foolhardy cavalry unit or blowing holes into well-organized infantry, allowing the discipline and ferocity of the rest of the army to come into full effect.
Gun Wagon: A sturdy wooden cart, drawn by four horses and supporting a revolver repeating 2-pounder gun on a swivel mount. These gun wagons use their speed to get into range and fire 9 volleys of round shot or canister shot in quick succession, then withdrawing before the enemy can shoot back to reload. By design, these wagons are not usable on snow, sand, rough terrain or overly muddy soil. However, in open areas where it can use its speed, this very unconventional wagon can be very efficient.
Mortars: These pieces fire a slow-moving shell high into the air, with the intent of raining fire directly onto the enemy. While the explosive shells can be powerful, this relatively new weapon still hasn't gained the favor of the generals because of its inaccuracy and the frequency at which the shell explodes too soon into the air, or sinks into the mud, detonating with much less force. When it does hit however, the effects are devastating on enemy troops.
Auxiliaries:Sappers: No Astalian army can function properly without its sappers. Not only do they dig trenches, build camp defenses and clear obstacles, they also act as siege engineers. Other soldiers fight with swords and muskets, the sapper fights with shovel and wood axe.
Franches-compagnies: The nickname "irregulars", while accurate, can be somewhat misleading about the franches-compagnies. They consist of civilian and military personnel recruited into specialized units with a very specific goal in mind. Subsequently, the composition and abilities of said units can and do vary considerably. This is not a unit usually tasked with guerilla warfare, rather infiltration, sabotage and counter-intelligence. Once their task is accomplished, the unit is disbanded and its members return to civilian life or regular army service. Most of the time, their identity remains secret.
Eventua
