June 26, 2026
Payroll of Thrones
Pre-Modern Armies for Worldbuilders, Part III: Paying for It
Fantasy fans are losing it over the brutally real cost of keeping armies fed and paid
TLDR: The article explains that pre-modern war depended less on fancy weapons and more on finding enough food, labor, and money to keep armies going. Readers loved the realism, but one standout comment stole the show by arguing it might be cheaper to bribe invaders than fund your own troops.
A history-and-worldbuilding post about how pre-modern armies actually got funded has somehow turned into a mini comment-section lovefest with one gloriously chaotic curveball. In this latest installment of ACOUP, the big message is simple: before kings worried about swords and castles, they had to solve the much less glamorous problem of food, wages, supplies, and all the boring stuff that keeps soldiers alive. The author argues that in older societies, war was less about giant factories pumping out gear and more about pulling real people and resources out of everyday life and somehow supporting them.
The comments, though, are where the real energy is. One reader said they came for early Dungeons & Dragons sandbox building and left with their setting ideas completely upgraded, which is exactly the vibe: nerds delighted that someone finally explained the economics behind all those wandering armies. Another admitted they spent an entire hour reading and got their mind "expanded," while others basically posted variations of, "Here goes ACOUP being excellent again." Translation: the audience is eating this up.
But then came the hot take that gave the thread its spice: why pay your own army if you can just pay the other guy not to invade? Even better, maybe pay them to attack somebody else. Suddenly the comments stopped being pure applause and veered into deliciously cynical strategy talk. So yes, this is a piece about military budgets — but the crowd has turned it into a debate over whether the smartest war plan is just weaponized bribery.
Key Points
- •The article is the third part of a series explaining how pre-modern armies were recruited, equipped, mobilized, and paid.
- •It argues that major military assets in pre-modern states, including ships, fortifications, artillery, and armories, should be understood primarily as financial costs.
- •The largest ongoing military expense discussed is troop maintenance, including pay, rations, supplies, and replacement of worn equipment.
- •The article emphasizes that pre-modern military finance should be analyzed through the physical economy of labor and resources, not only through money.
- •Sustaining armies required polities to remove workers from subsistence activity and support both specialized and unspecialized non-subsistence labor.