Crossbow Militia

Battlefield Role: Medium-Range Infantry

Weapons: A crossbow and a quiver with approximately 30 bolts.

Outfit: Plain clothes.

Skill level: Basic ranged training and no melee at all.

Affiliation: Whoever can buy crossbows in bulk.

Doctrine: None. They are only a temporary Levied Militia

Strengths: Anyone with two eyes, two arms and half a brain can be trained to shoot a crossbow relatively well within barely a month. As such, Crossbowmaiden units are very cheap and easy to replenish.

Weaknesses: Total lack of armour, training and experience makes these troops completely vulnerable at close quarters. Being levied into war in a rush also means their morale is low as hell.

Unlike other militias, who are usually a bunch of volunteer reservists beforehandedly assembled, outfitted and trained to be ready to rise and defend their homes upon being called, the Crossbow Militia is a unit who is usually levied, trained and outfitted in the very eve of an imminent invasion.

That's because the crossbow is an expensive weapon which is very easy to learn to use, so the levied women are simply given their new weapons and taught to handle it on the very route towards the battlefield. They serve as a supplement of firepower and as a boost to numbers, but they are literaly armed civilians who are not ready at all to face battle, so their general is better not to expect much from them, aside from shooting at the enemy packed formations from a fair distance.

They are quite lethal though, as their projectiles are armour-piercing and it's really not that hard to aim a crossbow. On the other hand, they can't aim high parabolas like archers do, and their rate of fire is really fucking slow.

By the end of the invasion, the Crossbow Militia is often immediately decommissioned. They are expected to return their crossbows and go back to their former lives with a meagre pay in hand, while in most cases the very weapons they wield are worth more than their lives.