Town Watch Guild

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In game[edit | edit source]

Town Watch Guild.png
Town Watch Guild — Vital statistics
Town Watch Guild

Used to train and upgrade infantry.

Prereq: Build time HP LOS Attack Attack speed
  • High Mediaeval Era [2];
  • Level 2: Mercenaries Military
3.3s
(50t)
80 6 12 2.33s
(35t)
Cost Building class Armour Weapon range Specialty
Base Ramp
Food.jpg: 20
Metal: 10;
Food.jpg: 1
Military 0 Melee
  • Can garrison up to 10 units.
  • Can be built outside of city radius.
Poland Venice England France Turks Wales.jpg Mongolia Papal States China Russians Burgundy Byzantines Holy Roman Empire Spain Hungary Portugal Serbians Scotland Armenia Norse

Overall strategy[edit | edit source]

The Town Watch Guild normally trains skirmisher levy units, which are peasant levy units with a ranged attack. While just as weak as Peasant Levy, they are disciplined and should be fairly cheap enough to form a last-ditch line of defenders who might yet slow down the enemy enough until reinforcements can be called in.

Town Watch units usually tend to be fairly more professional than Peasant Commune units, and in many cases are capable of operating as part of an armed host crossing into enemy territory.

Fort 3m.png

Units trained[edit | edit source]

Javelineer infantry[edit | edit source]

Name Class
Skirmisher Levy Light javelin infantry Skirmishers rkc icoa.png
Akritae Medium javelin infantry Akrit.png
Rizico Medium javelin infantry 41px|link=Rizicos

Spear infantry[edit | edit source]

Name Class
Urban Militia Light spearmen
Hspear1 ita.png
Quadrilheiros Light pikemen
Militia quadrilha.png


Polearms infantry[edit | edit source]

Name Class
Clann Levy Light polearms infantry Armmilit icon.png


Archers[edit | edit source]

Name Class
Longbow Levy Light archers Archers wales rkc.png

Crossbows[edit | edit source]

Name Class
Levy Crossbowmen Light crossbow L cbow rkc.png

Miscellaneous[edit | edit source]

Name Class
War Dogs Attack dog L cbow rkc.png
Armoured Mastiffs Attack dog L cbow rkc.png

Special abilities[edit | edit source]

Upon researching Imperial Mandate at the Nobles' Court, the Town Watch Guild will upgrade to a Magistracy for a handful of factions (usually Asian ones but also Eastern Christian ones such as Russia). This is a building with better stats, better LOS and a limited offensive capability. Additionally, it will not be captured along with its host city, and an enemy must bribe or destroy the building once and for all to eliminate it. Like the Chapterhouse, this means that it can be used to harass an enemy who has taken one of your cities by virtue of its being capable of raising lots and lots of cheap and inexpensive units. They may not survive fighting regular units, but with a little bit of luck, they can be the prelude to a successful counterattack.

The Portuguese Town Watch Guild has a design that is distinct compared to other factions, and has better stats: it has higher armour, the ability to garrison units, and is built faster. If it is captured by any faction other than another Portuguese player. it will not create units for the interlopers, thus ensuring that cities that Portugal recently lost will be easier to capture back.

History[edit | edit source]

For most of the world's population, life continued to be harsh and challenging throughout the Middle Ages. Necessity bred the need for cooperation and interdependence, forming bonds between individuals, especially amongst the working classes of mediaeval society everywhere.

Law enforcement and crime prevention throughout most nations of the Middle Ages still remained fairly rudimentary, and although some mediaeval communities such as China and the Byzantine and Muslim lands had some form of professional law enforcement bodies (ie, the baojia in China or the shurta of Muslim Syria), their coverage was often haphazard, heavy-handed, and often open to corruption or subversion (especially with regards to the lands of Islam) as responsibility for law enforcement and investigation were often left to the lower levels of government. Laws were fairly harsh, with theft and stealing often invoking capital punishment in the West. Evidence extraction through torture was also widespread, meaning that all too often innocent people who were implicated in a crime could be punished instead of the wrongdoer.

Nevertheless, the end of the Middle Ages and the rise of the modern centralised nation-state also resulted in the formation of state organisations which were sanctioned and overseen by governments, especially in Western Europe. The kings of Spain, France and England began taking an interest in making provisions for law enforcement institutions, such as the Quadrilheiros of Portugal or the Hermandades of Spain - possibly as a response to increases in urbanisation and town development which feudal means of recruitment and enforcement simply couldn't cope with. Even so, it would not be another hundred years before these institutions morphed into the professional law enforcement and policing government bodies that we know so well today.