OK, but my incredulity was about *any* conscript troops in the Empire.
>
> >Dammit, not only have I never seen any material anywhere that says the Empire
> >conscripts troops
>
> MOB's previews on Soldiers of the Red Moon had characters almost like
> conscripts, i.e. country boys with little or no other choice but the
> Imperial troops.
>
Almost like isn't the same: Conscription is when the government comes and says:
You, you, you and you. You're going into the Army.
Being driven by economic necessity into the arm isn't the same nor is being told by the Judge: "I'm going to give you two choices. Either you hang or you join the Fourteenth Furthest."
Conscription is your boyfriend, son or husband being taken away. Conscription is the press gang turning up and whisking away every healthy man it can find.
And I don't see this happening except when the State finds itself under direct threat.
(At least not for any Gloranthan culture other than the dwarves.)
(No, Jim, *not* the Kingdom of War. In the KoW the peasants are enslaved and being a warrior is a *privilege*. And even press-gang conscription needs a powerful central state to terrify the locals and prevent the uprisings that otherwise will follow.)
Joel's point about the occupation troops being mostly Tarshite is a good one. But the Empire would want some of its more experienced (and perhaps more reliable) units down there too so perhaps units from some of the more distant and unfamiliar cultures are down there too.
I would expect an increase in the number of Heartland units once Kallyr liberates Boldhome and things get really nasty.
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