Armies of Greyhawk – the South-Central Flanaess

And so we come to the final entry in my Armies of Greyhawk series, covering the lands south of the Nyr Dyv; Greyhawk, Gem of the Flanaess, Dyvers, Celene, the Wild Coast, and the Pomarj.

I must say the response I’ve gotten to this series has been quite amazing. It’s heartening to see there are a number of wargamers out there in the Greyhawk fan community. Now that the armies have been detailed, my plan is to finish up my wargame rules for Greyhawk (it’s very rules lite and very low magic; I’ve posted several videos of solo playtests on my YouTube channel), and write up some scenarios based on famous battles.

More about that follow-on project will be coming (hopefully soon), but for now you can download this article here.

Of course, it’s something of a misnomer to say this is the last one; I might put together some others, maybe covering Zihindia or the non-state actors in the Flanaess (like prominent communities of woodsmen or nomads, etc.). And more than one person has asked for a similar series covering the navies of the Flanaess, so that might also be in the future. But for now I want to paint some armies and move some metal on the table. The ultimate goal is to run games at conventions!

Written by 

Wargamer and RPG'er since the 1970's, author of Adventures Dark and Deep, Castle of the Mad Archmage, and other things, and proprietor of the Greyhawk Grognard blog.

6 thoughts on “Armies of Greyhawk – the South-Central Flanaess

  1. Just for Greyhawk city only.(From the Greyhawk City boxed set).
    In addition there are 200 “People’s Constables” who assist the city watch during the day. The city watch is listed as having 200 in the barracks, so a minimum of 200. That barracks is listed as having room for 2500 and the “militia” under Greyhawk: Her walls and Gates, subsection wall descriptions says thousands of militia, so I would say a minimum of 2300 light infantry hand weapons. The Night Watch replaces the “People’s Constables” at night so I would put them at 200 also. Outside of the city there are demi-humans at Grossetgrottell(200 Gnome guards plus 20 characters), Elmshire(240 Halfling light infantry spear, 360 Halfling light infantry shortbow plus 6 characters) and Greysmere(200 Dwarf axe/crossbow).

    I will look at Dyvers and see if I find anything. Where did you get the 25 warships number for them?

  2. Dyvers, from the box set.
    Dyvers boasts a marine contingent of 1,000 and an army twice as numerous.
    So, at least 2,000 troops, plus the additional sailors for those 25 warships. Since warships have 2-4 times the number of sailors that they have marines that is quite a few sailors. Caravel’s can have almost equal numbers of marines and sailors but Galleon’s and Great Galleys need up to 4 times the sailors. So, they would need 1,000 to 2,000 sailors to man those ships.

    The 2,000 man army vs. the 540 you detailed would be the only “really” important part of my comment.

  3. My last comment is twofold.
    Pomarj: Approximate numbers of troops by Racial type.
    6500 Gnoll, 1800 Flind, 5150 Hobgoblin, 6450 Orc, 5900 Kobold, 6550 Goblin and 1000 Ogre.
    Hardby: How did they get 125 Unicorn cavalry. Unicorns are rare and a human, even amazon, nation seems unlikely to have them.

    1. I think it’s more likely there would be human mercenaries, but there is a population of about 20,000 humans in the region. Certainly there would be human leaders and spellcasters, though.

    2. It is a combination of slaves, pirates and mercenaries. Plus unscrupulous merchants and slavers buying and selling at ports.

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