Can the Church even afford another army?

I am wondering after the Hargonese army is gone can the church even afford to raise another army? I mean they have totally lost the the tithe from sidemark and the tithe from silkian has to be way down now to so they are down to just the reduced tithes from the other nations which are already way down and it seemed like the church was just making ends meet when they still had sidemark and silkian.

captinjoehenry wrote:I am wondering after the Hargonese army is gone can the church even afford to raise another army? I mean they have totally lost the the tithe from sidemark and the tithe from silkian has to be way down now to so they are down to just the reduced tithes from the other nations which are already way down and it seemed like the church was just making ends meet when they still had sidemark and silkian.

Its not really afford but can they equip a new army if the MHoGatA goes down. They may be able to equip a small one but one the current size of the MHoGatA not a chance. They just don't have the time for it. Remember they had to divert the production of rifles from 5 or 6 realms to get the MHoGatA equipped to 2/3 of its TO&E for rifles. The church is also trying to at the same time refit reform retrain and reequip all at the same time.

saber964 wrote:

captinjoehenry wrote:I am wondering after the Hargonese army is gone can the church even afford to raise another army? I mean they have totally lost the the tithe from sidemark and the tithe from silkian has to be way down now to so they are down to just the reduced tithes from the other nations which are already way down and it seemed like the church was just making ends meet when they still had sidemark and silkian.

Its not really afford but can they equip a new army if the MHoGatA goes down. They may be able to equip a small one but one the current size of the MHoGatA not a chance. They just don't have the time for it. Remember they had to divert the production of rifles from 5 or 6 realms to get the MHoGatA equipped to 2/3 of its TO&E for rifles. The church is also trying to at the same time refit reform retrain and reequip all at the same time.

In terms, of financing a war, there tends not to be anything like sound finance that gets in the way. In the final days of the ACW, confederate currency was stll in use, but severely devalued. Prices on stuff ballooned out of sight, not because of the value of money, but because the basics were no longer available to buy at any price no matter how good or poor the currency might have been.

Don

I think the question from the point of view of their decision makers is whether they can afford not to build another army. Not necessarily a rational decision, but that's about the only thing Clyntahn has never been accused of being.

As discussed in another thread(I forget which one, it was months ago), the problem isn't money, it is never money when it comes to war, unless you are paying mercenaries or you have a weak state. As saber964 pointed out the problem is the arming any new army. However this isn't insurmountable for the following reasons:

1:All of Harchong's foundries are or shortly will be under direct church control.

2: It wasn't five or six mainland realms(what five or six, look at the map, there are eight total plus the border states), it was the border states and the Temple Lands, Desnair and Dolahr are untouched(They lost their own armies but that is a different issue, Note: no text o Desnairian rebuilding efforts yet)

3: They have months before Sidarmark and Charis could march, even if they were unopposed, into the temple lands.


Final Note: Political will isn't a problem, this a holy war and could only end for either side both for that reason and others with the defeat of the enemy.

The inquisition will pour in money to ensure their dominance, but at what ppont will they attempt to force people to supply them with out payment, will be the final stroke against them.

After Harchong is gone, definitely not another army in the same size bracket. Right now, the Church is still engaged in a war to drive the heretics back, but when the Mighty Host gets kicked in the unmentionables, and most of its materiel is lost to the heretics, the Church will finally be forced to take a defensive stance. That will probably mean a lot of shouting in the Temple halls, maybe the rebellion-purge-insurrection by one of the Go4, and reducing the borders and digging in. And in defensive warfare, given near-equal material capabilities, the advantage goes to the defender.

My bet is that the Church will be able to reconsolidate a small army (say, 200,000 men) around the remains of wathever they salvage from the MH, what they manage to gang-press in Zion and environs, and the Temple Guard. Rearming them will be a whole different matter; the Church will proably be limited to wathever can be supplied by the Temple Lands, the Border States and Northern Harchong.

Start digging trenches around Zion now, boyos; it'll save time later!

It is not just money it will cost them, if they loose this army to the heretics, many loyal people will be questioning hte whole war effort, and the church it self. It potetnially could cripple the church more than an actual battle could achieve.

peke wrote:After Harchong is gone, definitely not another army in the same size bracket. Right now, the Church is still engaged in a war to drive the heretics back, but when the Mighty Host gets kicked in the unmentionables, and most of its materiel is lost to the heretics, the Church will finally be forced to take a defensive stance. That will probably mean a lot of shouting in the Temple halls, maybe the rebellion-purge-insurrection by one of the Go4, and reducing the borders and digging in. And in defensive warfare, given near-equal material capabilities, the advantage goes to the defender.

My bet is that the Church will be able to reconsolidate a small army (say, 200,000 men) around the remains of wathever they salvage from the MH, what they manage to gang-press in Zion and environs, and the Temple Guard. Rearming them will be a whole different matter; the Church will proably be limited to wathever can be supplied by the Temple Lands, the Border States and Northern Harchong.

Start digging trenches around Zion now, boyos; it'll save time later!

yes start digging dem trenches lets get some good old fashion trench warfare with one side with bolt action and HE while the other side doesn't. I would love to see how long they will hold out and how the situation in zion develops once it is under siege and especially in the temple itself.

Now that i think about it I dont really care how it happens because that just sounds like an absolutely fascinating scenario which i would love to see how it plays out.