| Barracks
|
| Category: |
Army
|
| Level: |
1
|
| Turns to build: |
3
|
| Building cost: |
1000
|
| European
|
|
| Indian
|
|
| Middle Eastern
|
|
|
| Requires
|
|
|
| Enables
|
Drill School
|
A national army requires central organisation, if only for pay and rations. Regiments may be the preserve of their commanding officers, but the functionaries control the purse strings!
An army generates paperwork of all kinds, and a secretariat grows to keep it all in order. There is an obvious need to make sure that units receive orders and supplies in a timely manner – and without unscrupulous suppliers stealing too much money. Headquarters staff must also organise transport in co-operation with the navy, keep a list of officers and their commissions, organise parades to impress the great and the good, and offer assistance to the civil power in times of need.
Historically, European armies were organised in an ad hoc fashion in the 18th Century. Usually, the biggest permanent formations in existence were regiments; armies were assembled as-and-when a crisis loomed under the command of favoured general. Even so, the concept of the central command telling colonels what to do with their regiments often met stiff opposition. The Ottoman and Mughal empires were better organised in theory, and did have larger permanent formations such as corps and divisions.
