On The Imperial Army

The Imperial army is always been touted as one of the most effective fighting forces in Tamriel yet for all their prowess there seem to be no sources (That I could find) that discuss the army and its tactics in of itself. So from what little evidence I can find, an amateur knowledge of European history and an awful lot of conjecture I am going to attempt to piece together the nature of the Imperial Army. For brevity and due to the fact I only played Skyrim, the army we are looking at is the Imperial army in Skyrim at war with the Storcloak rebellion circa 4E 201. Additionally, the bulk of this is on the Mundane rank and file with but a few sections on auxiliary troops.

The first and most obvious parallel people make is the Roman empire and this may be why it is not looked at more. The Imperial army is referred to as Legions, the Armour has very classical themes to it and the Empire itself is mildly analogous to Rome but this comparison falls apart very quickly as we get into a deeper analysis.

#Part the first: Equipment#

##Imperial Infantry##

IMO the most important factor in determining how an army works is the equipment they use. The weaponry of an Imperial soldier is pretty well defined: An Imperial sword, A set of light Imperial armour with An Imperial Shield and an Imperial Bow with arrows. These each have a variety of implications so we'll examine each one by one:

####A. The Imperial Sword####

The Imperial Sword is the most ubiquitous piece of equipment in the Imperial army and our best real world companion is the spatha or cavalry sword of the Roman empire as opposed to the more common gladius as whilst it does share the basic proportions of a Roman Gladius the swords of Skyrim are generally wider than reasonable (I could have some choice words with the designer) and the Imperial sword is of the length of a typical Spatha.

However, the more important feature is not the fact that resembles the Spatha but that it is used similarly. We can see from the in-game animations of Skyrim both by the player and the NPCs that the Imperial sword is mostly swung in battle as opposed to thrust (though this may be just a game limitation) but the design seems to favour less of a thrusting stabby motion but rather cuts and slashes with thrusts intermixed (a similar style to a mediaeval arming sword or the aforementioned spatha). This kind of combat is also supported by our next piece of equipment...

####B. The Imperial Shield####

Another very interesting piece of equipment, the Imperial Shield is not the classical Scutum of Rome but rather a much later kite shield used predominantly in the mediaeval period. This shield is much lighter and smaller than the scutum but it is nearly ineffectual in a shield wall or group formation and is much more useful in single combat or on horseback. This along with a long, slashing style sword starts to suggest that perhaps the Imperial Army fights in not a coherent, large scale order but as a more skirmishing style with longer swords and light shields. Speaking of light ...

####C. The Imperial Light Heavy Armour####

In 4E 201 we can see that nearly every Imperial is wearing some form of light leather armour. This directly opposes the wearing of what is very heavy plate in the earlier periods suggesting some kind of reform between the games.

The armour itself seems to be either leather or brigantine depending on the soldier but overall would provide a modicum of protection against most attacks. However, it is much more light, manoeuvrable and stealthy than the heavy armours of the past.

it appears that the Imperials actually wear the heavy armour provide in the game to the officers as they are mentioned to "clank" and it is called the battle armour by Beirand. However, this means that whilst the Imperials likely use less ambushes and terrain advantages (though the Riften quest shows it is utilised a bit) however the fact that they wear heavy (presumably equivalent to mediaeval plate) armour. I feel however this just changes their fighting style but the overall argument stands.

####D. The Imperial Bow####

I've saved the best for last here. This is perhaps the most interesting piece of equipment that any soldier has. Whilst I couldn't find any counclusive evidence it seems that nearly every soldier in the Imperial Legion is equiped with a bow and arrows. These bows are not cheap hunting bows either though; they are made from (in game) steel and are not very common amongst the populace.

The fact that we see these given out to so many Imperials implies that they are all fairly skilled in archery and can use a bow to the level seen here. This implies that specialist training is given to this field as the time required to get decent aim and more importantly years of muscle develpment to get a draw weight capable of doing damag. This implies the Empire sees it's Legionnaires as more than just foot soldiers.

##Imperial Cavalry##

One reason why I feel that the Imperial Legions would bear little resemblance to the Roman Legions is the fact that cavalry should be more prevalent. Whilst we see no horsemen in the game i presume that this is most definitely a gameplay limitation and not a lore reason.

The reason cavalry would be far more effective in TES alongside the empire is this: The lowly stirrup. This invention alongside the 4 pointed saddle we see used came late to Europe in the early Medieval period and it revolutionised cavalry. The Roman equities were very light and were only used as scouts, skirmishers or to bod down enemy cavalry as a light breeze would knock them out of the saddle. Comparatively the horseback combat of TES is miles ahead of it's classical counterpart. This means Imperial shock cavalry would be far more effective and could be used to devastating effect but so could the cavalry of others.

This simple invention means that a standard Roman army is entirely impractical as a flanking Charge or heavy horsemen would crush a rigid classical formation. This does leave a gaping hole in the form of spears but if spears were not used for some reason then a looser and more flexible formation is far more effective (see the way the maniples split to counter Carthaginian elephants).

Part The Second: Circumstances

The Second most important aspect of how an army fights are its circumstances. Who, Where, When, Why etc.

The key thing about the Imperials we're examining is the fact that they are not Imperials. The war in Skyrim is a civil war and on both sides the chances are that the rank and file (presuming Roman hierarchies then up to Centurion) are nearly all nords on either side. Of the 4 most important actors in the war, 3 fought together and are all nords. The second highest ranking officer (I believe) is a Nord. The stormcloaks are fighting men who are defending their homes from a murder and usurper and more importantly both likely have local knowledge of the area. This means that guerilla warfare tactics were likely used by both sides to prevent losses as the Imperials don't have access their full might and the stormcloaks have limited men and economy being only half a province and newly founded with likely no trade or outside relations.

And the location both armies are fighting in is not an open field suited to large formations and horsemen like Cyrodil but rather a rocky craggy terrain with multiple mountain ranges, small passes and most areas that are adequately open are heavily forested leaving only the still fairly craggy plains of Whiterun as an open area for an army. This means that outside of sieges there are minimal open options for Large scale battles or large armies and makes siege engines or cavalry nigh on useless.

We also have to look at the broader context of the Empire. The Empire is still reeling from the pretty decent war with the Thalmor and likely sees them as "the enemy" and so has adapted their armies to face them. The Thalmor tend to be armed with light armour as we can see in the game with elven armour being classed as light and it has been established that Altmeri magic is far and away the most powerful with nearly every high elf being capable of some form of magic in some way compared to a relative lack in the nords we can see.

These tactics that the Thalmor use mean that they can move much faster than the average Imperial Legionnaires and most (if not all) can perform basic field magic such as healing or flames which leads me to conclude that their lighter style and more agile combat (we never see 2 handed thalmor) would mean that a heavily armoured legion would have to rely on cavalry detachments to deal with them at great cost to the Imperials or they take heavy losses as the thalmor move back and pick off Imperials with flame spells. Add into the equation that Imperialm battlemages would be outnumbered by Thalmor mages and therefore likely the thalmor could use AOE spells to break apart formations with relative ease.

#Conclusion#

From this, we can see that the Imperial armies equipment has shifted into equipping nearly every soldier with light but flexible and fast leather or brigantine armours, with shields ineffective in any kind of shield wall but great for single combat, with swords designed not for tight formations but for when soldiers have space to swing and slash with a long sword and most importantly with bows (which are A. expensive and B. require years of rigorous training to get any kind of accuracy and a high enough draw weight.). Also, we can see how they are now fighting in a very mountainy and rough terrain with troops formed of local soldiers who know the terrain leading to the conclusion that the imperials are not using the presumed Roman tactics but are instead waging a guerilla war with the stormcloaks using their superior ranged combat techniques and organisation to engage the stormcloaks.

We can also see in the bigger picture that using lighter leather based armour would provide enough protection coupled with a shield but also cut costs and that a largley infantry based heavy army as seen in oblivion would be crippled by lightly armoured soldiers with the liberal use of magic, therefore, moving to train all soldier to retaliate with ranged weaponry (why not crossbows, who knows? They're cheaper and easier) and move in a more flexible fashion to avoid AOE spells may be beneficial.

TL;DR: Imperials put points into doging and archery.

Edit: It appears that the Imperials cannonically in Skyrim wear heavy armour. This means tat they likely do not follow the light tactics I put forth, however, I feel that my points still stand that the Imperials still train to fight in a more open formation as individuals sue to the large space their weapon style provides, the Kite shields unsuited for a wall formation and of course the bows.