"Right, onto my next problem," Herman thought as he crossed another concern off his mental list. With his granddaughter returning to take responsibility for rebuilding the cavalry, he was confident that the project would finally move forward. He had always believed that the ability to maintain a large and capable cavalry force was one of the signs of a truly great nation. After all, such a force required considerable resources, skilled personnel, and a military organization capable of supporting it over the long term. However, that was a matter he could leave to Sofie for the time being, as he had considerably more pressing problems demanding his attention.
He was currently wrestling with what could only be described as a military identity crisis. Almost everything they had been taught about conventional warfare had become outdated, and many of the tactics that had once formed the foundation of military education were no longer particularly useful. The arrival of mana, the emergence of mages, and the transformation of the battlefield had introduced entirely new variables that their previous doctrine had never been designed to accommodate. Even the technological assumptions behind their old military strategies had become questionable, since the machines and systems that had once supported modern warfare were no longer available in the same way.
For example, the military had previously devoted considerable attention to drone warfare and the various ways unmanned systems could be used to observe, disrupt, and attack an enemy. Those tactics were no longer particularly relevant under the current circumstances, as the equipment and infrastructure required to operate such systems were largely unavailable. Underground warfare, on the other hand, had not become entirely obsolete, even if its importance had changed. Tunnelling beneath castles and fortified positions could still prove useful, particularly when an enemy relied on defensive structures that could not easily be overcome through conventional assaults. Naturally, the absence of a moat would make such operations considerably easier, but the basic principle remained relevant.
Infantry tactics had also undergone considerable changes, and that was perhaps the most important issue they needed to address. The military could no longer assume that the formations and procedures taught in the old officer academies would remain effective against enemies capable of using mana and magical abilities. Mages introduced entirely new possibilities for both attack and defence, while the presence of mana-enhanced soldiers changed how ordinary infantry could operate. A formation that worked perfectly well against conventional troops might become dangerously vulnerable when confronted with magical attacks or opponents capable of moving and fighting in ways that had previously been impossible. Consequently, the army needed an entirely new foundation for its military education.
One of the largest projects undertaken over the previous few years had therefore been the creation of a new officer academy and its accompanying curriculum. The objective was to teach officers the tactics required to command troops in the new battlefield environment, including how to organize their soldiers, direct their movements, and select formations suited to different situations. It was no longer enough for an officer to memorize established procedures and repeat them whenever a battle began. They needed to understand why certain formations worked, what weaknesses they possessed, and how to adapt them when the enemy introduced something unexpected. The academy was supposed to provide the army with a common foundation that every officer could understand and apply.
However, developing such a curriculum proved considerably more difficult than they had initially anticipated. It had taken four years to reach a point where everyone involved was reasonably satisfied with the course, largely because they were effectively trying to design an entirely new style of warfare. Mana and mages added another dimension to the composition of an army, changing not only how individual soldiers fought but also how different units interacted with one another. Commanders had to consider the influence of magical abilities on their own formations, the vulnerabilities those abilities created, and the ways they could be countered by an opposing force. The number of possible combinations was enormous, and simply adapting a few old tactics was never going to be sufficient.
Fortunately, they had not needed to develop every part of their simulation systems from scratch. Several existing games already incorporated many of the variables they needed to examine, including formations, specialized units, magical abilities, and different battlefield conditions. Their developers could examine the underlying code, copy useful systems, and modify them to represent the reality their military now faced. That gave the analysts and military planners a considerable advantage, since they could test different approaches without having to recreate every mechanic themselves. It also allowed them to run simulations involving situations that would have been extremely expensive or difficult to reproduce through actual military exercises.
Even with those advantages, creating a standard textbook for the officers had taken another three years of work. They needed a document that explained the basic formations, the responsibilities of different units, and the procedures officers were expected to understand before taking command of their soldiers. It had to be comprehensive enough to provide useful instruction, but also clear enough that officers from different branches and backgrounds could study the same material. The objective was to ensure that every officer had a shared understanding of the army's basic doctrine, rather than having each unit develop its own completely separate approach to warfare. Eventually, they produced a textbook that most of the people involved were willing to accept.
Of course, the moment they had a standardized textbook, another obvious problem appeared. A standard doctrine was useful precisely because everyone could learn it, understand it, and apply it in a relatively consistent manner. Unfortunately, that also meant an enemy commander could study the same principles and identify weaknesses that could be exploited during combat. If every unit relied too heavily on the same formations and procedures, a clever opponent might predict their movements and prepare an effective countermeasure. Even worse, officers who had become too dependent on the textbook might struggle to respond when the enemy introduced an unfamiliar tactic or battlefield development.
That possibility sparked another lengthy discussion about how rigid the army's doctrine should be. Some people argued that standardization was essential, while others believed that officers needed considerably more freedom to develop their own methods. A textbook that was too restrictive would produce commanders who could follow instructions but lacked the ability to adapt, while a doctrine that was too vague would make it difficult to coordinate different units. The military needed a balance between the two approaches, and finding it was not particularly easy. They spent the remainder of that year arguing over the issue, revising the textbook, and attempting to make the final system flexible enough to accommodate new developments without sacrificing consistency.
The result was a collection of several large formations, each assembled from a number of smaller standardized formations. Those smaller units would serve as the basic building blocks of the army, allowing officers to learn a common set of movements and procedures before being expected to command larger groups. More talented commanders could then combine those smaller formations in different ways to create larger formations suited to particular battlefield situations. They could also assign individual formations to separate tasks without having to redesign the entire army every time a new objective appeared. It was a compromise between standardization and flexibility, providing the military with a reliable foundation while leaving room for experienced commanders to demonstrate their abilities.
All things considered, Herman considered the outcome rather average. That was his honest opinion, and he found the final result profoundly disappointing when compared with what he had originally hoped to achieve. After spending years developing the new doctrine, he had expected something more impressive than a collection of standardized formations and a textbook that every officer would be required to study. Nevertheless, he understood that the army needed something safe and dependable at this particular stage of its development. The doctrine would serve as the foundation of their military for quite some time, and that meant it needed to be something everyone could understand, learn, and perform reliably.
There was little value in introducing complicated formations that only a handful of exceptional commanders could use effectively. The army needed a system that could be taught to large numbers of officers and passed down through the ranks without becoming incomprehensible. Even if the results were not particularly exciting, a dependable foundation would allow the military to improve gradually as it gained more experience with the new battlefield environment. They could always introduce more advanced tactics later, once the basic doctrine had become familiar and the army possessed enough trained personnel to experiment safely. For now, consistency was more important than ambition.
With the situation in the Union finally calming down, they could at last begin sending their officers back to school in meaningful numbers. The anti-corruption campaign was still ongoing, but Herman did not expect it to have a particularly significant influence on the army's training arrangements. The military could therefore return to educating its officers, allowing them to study the new doctrine before bringing that knowledge back to their respective units. Once there, they would be responsible for drilling the formations and procedures into their soldiers until the entire unit could perform them without needing constant supervision. It would be a lengthy process, but it was necessary if the army wanted to become something more than a collection of inexperienced soldiers following basic instructions.
During the previous trial, the most they had managed to drill into many of their soldiers before sending them into battle was a simple shield wall, with every ranged unit positioned behind it. That formation had been sufficient for some basic defensive situations, but it was hardly an impressive demonstration of military capability. The soldiers had not possessed enough training to execute more complicated maneuvers, and their officers had lacked the time to teach them anything beyond the fundamentals. Herman wanted to change that situation so that future units could operate with considerably more coordination and flexibility. His hope was that better-trained soldiers would allow the army to remain effective for longer without constantly depending on civilian reinforcements to fill the gaps.
He knew perfectly well that expecting the military to fight indefinitely without civilian support was unrealistic. Numbers were numbers, and no amount of training could completely eliminate the need for additional manpower during a prolonged conflict. However, a better-trained army could delay the moment when civilians had to be called upon, giving the military more time to organize its defenses and prepare replacements. If the factions that were currently building their own private military forces could also contribute effectively, the combined forces might be able to hold their positions for considerably longer. At least, that was the plan, and Herman was willing to consider it a reasonable starting point.
Unfortunately, integrating those private forces into the wider military structure created another enormous problem. The factions involved differed considerably in their resources, experience, organizational structures, and the quality of the soldiers they could provide. There was no guarantee that every faction would deliver troops capable of performing at the same standard, and the officers accompanying those soldiers could be even more problematic. Some factions had considerable military experience and understood the responsibilities involved in maintaining armed forces, while others were essentially learning everything from the beginning. Assigning the same value to every faction's contribution would therefore be a serious mistake.
Herman had a reasonably clear idea of which factions he could trust with important military responsibilities. The Sonnenbergs, for example, were a family he would have no hesitation in assigning to the defence of an important mountain pass or fortress. Their experience, discipline, and familiarity with the new world made them suitable for demanding assignments, and he would also trust them with reconnaissance missions where independent judgement was essential. However, he would never place the same confidence in a faction whose greatest assets consisted of a chain of grocery stores. Owning a successful commercial business did not automatically make someone qualified to command soldiers or manage a military operation.
That was the problem the analysts were currently struggling to solve. They needed a system that could evaluate the actual military contribution of each faction rather than simply accepting whatever numbers the factions presented. The most obvious solution was to combine the private military forces with the regular army, ensuring that every assignment involving faction troops also included experienced military officers in positions of overall command. Under that arrangement, the private forces could provide additional manpower while the regular army maintained responsibility for coordination and operational decisions. On paper, it was a fairly straightforward solution, and it would prevent inexperienced faction commanders from being given responsibilities they could not handle.
Unfortunately, the situation became considerably more complicated when they considered the factions that actually possessed competent military forces. The Great Houses and Trade Families were not organizations that would simply accept having their commanders placed under the authority of ordinary military officers without discussion. Many of them had their own experienced leaders, established command structures, and considerable resources invested in their private forces. If the military attempted to impose its officers over those commanders without considering their abilities, it risked creating unnecessary conflicts between people who should have been cooperating. In some cases, the military officers assigned to supervise them might even find themselves completely outmatched by the people they were supposed to command.
The opposite problem existed among the less capable factions. Some of the CEOs managing private military forces seemed to believe that running a successful commercial enterprise automatically qualified them to command soldiers. Their lack of experience was particularly concerning because they often possessed an inflated opinion of their own abilities. Giving such people meaningful military authority could create dangerous situations, especially if they began interfering with decisions that should have been left to trained officers. Herman could already imagine how badly some of those arrangements might go if they were not handled carefully.
Fortunately, he had people working on the problem, and that meant he did not need to develop the entire solution himself. The analysts were examining the different factions, evaluating the quality of their troops, and considering how their commanders could be incorporated into a functioning military structure. Herman's responsibility would ultimately be to review the proposals they produced and select the most practical solution. He was perfectly happy with that arrangement, since there were already more than enough problems demanding his attention. He did not need to personally invent every answer when he had an entire team of capable people whose job was to think about precisely these matters.