The Urdrevan generally do not assemble as a large fighting force due to their individual and decentralised nature. Sometimes they will group up as needed to defend important landmarks or Elder villages but these tend to be temporary.
On those occasions when the Urdrevan have had need of something resembling an army it has taken the form of a great gathering of mercenary bands, assembled from far and wide. The whole host is mounted in some way, though most warriors ride to battle and then dismount to fight. The fighting force is predominantly light infantry, archers, cavalry, dragoons, and horse archers. The richest of the mercenaries assemble in blocks of heavy infantry, but the most conspicuous units are those made up of megafauna and dinosaurs. These are divided between superheavy cavalry riding massive creatures like rhinos, Sickleclaws, or Threehorns, and single vast creatures with teams of riders and supporters like mammoths, thunderfoots, or Carnosaurs. These great beasts form rallying points for the mobile army and their calls strike fear echoing across the battlefield.
When outmatched or pressed the army can scatter to reduce casualties, reuniting at pre-agreed landmarks to strike from unexpected directions. The army is supported by veteran scouts whose knowledge of terrain and routes of marching mean it is able to make the most out of its mobility. This free flowing and mobile army excels in field battles and manoeuver warfare, with the huge beasts at its core providing a terrifying shock attack once the wings have pinned down enemy forces. The Urdrevan are a perennially mobile culture so subject to the logistics of feed the army and its supply train can move very quickly.
The magical support for the army is mostly in the form of healing and divination, classical battle weavings of the sort that summon meteors or banks of fog are rarer. The army is great at raiding but performs poorly in a siege (a triceratops is a great battering ram but cavalry still do poorly inside cities/forts).
Drevan
These mercenaries represent the nation’s warriors who make their living in warfare, favouring heavy armour and shields in order to live long enough to collect their pay.
Beastmasters
These Urdrevan range ahead of the bands on their routes of migration, establishing territory for their families among the pack predators and luring the truly monstrous creatures away from the route.
Shepherds
These warriors remain with the bands, teaching them the skills they need to defend themselves while remaining ever ready to spring to the defence of their kin.
In these dark days when the last hope of Elandria’s freedom gathered at Haven the warriors of the Urdrevan have been fighting for decades. Bands field what warriors they can in their own defence, and those that have taken up arms against the massive odds survive by remaining alert and taking smart fights. Urdrevan traditions of archery and skirmishing stand them in good stead, the better to harry a foe without committing recklessly to battle. Similarly the Urdrevan favour shields over the heaviest of armour, since a shield is much easier to fashion than a suit of plated steel, and a shield can be dropped if a warrior’s life comes to depend on how fast they can run. Polearms are more common than great weapons, a spear can hunt as well as defend and only needs a small amount of metal to make. There is a school of thought among some Urdrevan warriors that the safest sort of fight is one that is ended immediately by beheading your opponent with a greatsword, so mighty weapons still have their adherents. Some Rattlers are known to fashion the relic bones of their inspirational beasts into weapons, and while these most often take the form of teeth or claws made into spearheads or punch daggers, warriors wielding dinosaur femurs as great clubs are not unheard of…
The Urdrevan have long favoured mail and lamellar armour over plate. They also prefer tall greaves like horse riders. Particularly favoured as adornments to wargear are plumes and feathers that dance in the charge.