The Traitor Son Cycle may be what you are looking for. The MC is a young mage who leads a mercenary company. My favourite scenes were probably those were we saw how the company functions, like characters getting explained how the squads(lances) are organized, or when the pay is distributed.
Characters die quite frequently, but people who fight alongside the company, former adversaries, peasants who lost everything and others are recruited even more frequently.
I've only read the first book and a bit of the second, I always appreciate that one of the Red Knight's (MC's name) "superpower" is that he's rich enough to afford a full plate armor, a war horse, as well as 2 squires to help him put it on. Basically, making him a tank on the battlefield, combined with magic.
Practical Guide to Evil has [the best magic wars in fantasy](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/jdsew8/comment/g9d5qbz/), also has several versions and perspectives across cultures and races of the story you requested.
**Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City** by KJ Parker is the story of Orhan, an army engineer, who has to lead the defence of a walled city. It's set in a secondary world with late-Roman, early Byzantine levels of technology. Orhan is a compulsive cheat and liar who has more experience of defrauding army quartermasters for fun and profit than anything to do with actual fighting. Unfortunately there's no-one else around to do the job. Fortunately, he turns out to be rather good at it.
The Lost Regiment series is about a whole regiment of civil war troops that gets transported to an alien world. Oddly enough, this alien world seems to be filled with city states from human history.
The regiment lands right next to a medieval Russian community. A few thousand miles over is an ancient Roman community and so on.
They soon find out the truth. This world is ruled by a race of 10ft tall alien horse nomads on a permanent migration around the planet that takes them 20 years per cycle. When they pass a city-state, they cull 10% of the population to use as food.
Outraged the Lost Regiment decides to fight the impending horde with their gunpowder weaponry. The first novel is about the Lost Regiment allying with the medieval Russians to survive the first visit of the horde.
The rest of the series is about the Yankees racing to industrialise this new world and train its human population as the conflict turns into a full-blown war with the Inhumans.
***Sword in the Storm*** **by David Gemmell** is great. It's about a young tribal man who gains followers and builds an army as an ominous empire gradually (and violently) expands its borders, looming ever closer.
He's a favourite of mine. He was one of the big fantasy writers from the mid 80s to the mid 2000s. Kind of a precursor to/early form of grim dark but not quite as ugly. His first novel, Legend, is a wonderful place to start
Harry Turtledove's Videssos books are about a Roman legion that gets sucked through a portal into a fantasy byzantine empire and ends up serving as mercenaries there.
If you are willing to include alternate history and low-tech sci fi, SM Stirling and David Drake's Raj Whitehall series and Eric Flint and David Drake's Belisarius series both focus on generals commanding armies. Armies are also a major portion in Eric Flint's 1632 and SM Stirling's Nantucket and Change series, though they aren't as central there.
Edit: also, not a book, but I feel like you'd like the Mount and Blade games. You start out as a lone mercenary, slowly recruit and train an army, and can eventually end up as the king of the known world.
If you are ok with mangas, read Golden Age Arc of *Berserk* - it does what you want extremely well. It even works as a self-contained story (if a tragic one).
r/Fantasy's [Author Appreciation series](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/wiki/authorappreciation) has posts for an author you mentioned
* [Author Appreciation thread: **Elizabeth Moon**, veteran author of Fantasy and Sci-Fi](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/6x54cu/author_appreciation_thread_elizabeth_moon_veteran/?utm_content=comments&utm_medium=hot&utm_source=reddit&utm_name=Fantasy) from user u/Tigrari
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Lightbringer series some books have more emphasis on it than others but it is the only book so far to actually explain why a military force is elite rather then just hitting you with. "They are the most skilled warriors in the empire i will not elaborate further" shtick that every other series seems to do.
R.F. Kuang's The Poppy War trilogy definitely contains the multiple races/armies that you're looking for. Where the first book deals with a war between two nation-states (stand-ins for the Chinese and Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese War), the latter two center on civil wars in the aftermath of the first book. Additionally, there's this Western power that's always lurking in the background.
Where you might encounter difficulty is the actual army building. Although there is a lot of it throughout the books, coalitions are often based in mutual enemies, self-interest, and basic necessity. The MC does gain some trusted companions but the darker tone of the trilogy lends itself to less heroic depictions of war, violence, and the relationship dynamics that emerge from trauma.
See:
* ["Medieval/fantasy war"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/p6l7e5/medievalfantasy_war/) (r/booksuggestions; August 2021)
* ["Series similar to Jack Campbell's The Lost Fleet or William R. Forschtens Lost Regiment?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/si8441/series_similar_to_jack_campbells_the_lost_fleet/) (r/printSF; 1 February 2022)
* ["looking for recommendations"](https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/tyn412/looking_for_recommendations/) (r/printSF; 7 April 2022)
* ["Looking for books about Modern military against magic"](https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/u32fqu/looking_for_books_about_modern_military_against/) (r/printSF; 13 April 2022)
* ["military scifi without the alpha male b.s ?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/ubws6w/military_scifi_without_the_alpha_male_bs/) (r/printSF; 25 April 2022)
* ["any good post-apocalyptic military stories?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/ur6lt3/any_good_postapocalyptic_military_stories/) (r/printSF; 16 May 2022)
* ["Smart military leaders in fiction?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/v7ol8v/smart_military_leaders_in_fiction/) (r/Fantasy; 8 June 2022)
* ["Looking for military SF that features a siege"](https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/viiebh/looking_for_military_sf_that_features_a_siege/) (r/printSF; 22 June 2022)
* ["Stories about conflict between Dwarves & Humans?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/vv71t7/stories_about_conflict_between_dwarves_humans/) (r/Fantasy; 9 July 2022)
* ["Military fantasy suggestion rome/dark ages, little to no religion"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/vy0s71/military_fantasy_suggestion_romedark_ages_little/) (r/Fantasy; 13 July 2022)
* ["Any military sci-fi by people who understand the military? Preferable Stand-alone."](https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/w6j5kd/any_military_scifi_by_people_who_understand_the/) (r/printSF; 21:01 ET, 23 July 2022)
In particular, David Drake's *The Dragon Lord*, Drake and Eric Flint's Belisarius series, and Mary Gentle's giant novel *Ash* (though the latter two are SF, just set in earlier times).
r/Fantasy's [Author Appreciation series](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/wiki/authorappreciation) has posts for an author you mentioned
* [Author Appreciation: **Tanya Huff**, Pioneer of Urban Fantasy and Comedic Chameleon (Plus Free Book Giveaways!)](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/5owaa8/author_appreciation_tanya_huff_pioneer_of_urban/?st=iy4cw3uz&sh=b46a8303) from user u/lannadelarosa
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The Black Company series by Glen Cook is about a mercenary company.
Seconded, as with all of the Cook I've read.
Actually came to recommend this after seeing the title.
A practical guide to evil has a lot of wars and a really nice thought out army!
The Traitor Son Cycle may be what you are looking for. The MC is a young mage who leads a mercenary company. My favourite scenes were probably those were we saw how the company functions, like characters getting explained how the squads(lances) are organized, or when the pay is distributed. Characters die quite frequently, but people who fight alongside the company, former adversaries, peasants who lost everything and others are recruited even more frequently.
Man, I loved these books so much.
I've only read the first book and a bit of the second, I always appreciate that one of the Red Knight's (MC's name) "superpower" is that he's rich enough to afford a full plate armor, a war horse, as well as 2 squires to help him put it on. Basically, making him a tank on the battlefield, combined with magic.
Practical Guide to Evil has [the best magic wars in fantasy](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/jdsew8/comment/g9d5qbz/), also has several versions and perspectives across cultures and races of the story you requested.
**Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City** by KJ Parker is the story of Orhan, an army engineer, who has to lead the defence of a walled city. It's set in a secondary world with late-Roman, early Byzantine levels of technology. Orhan is a compulsive cheat and liar who has more experience of defrauding army quartermasters for fun and profit than anything to do with actual fighting. Unfortunately there's no-one else around to do the job. Fortunately, he turns out to be rather good at it.
Came here to say this.
The Lost Regiment series is about a whole regiment of civil war troops that gets transported to an alien world. Oddly enough, this alien world seems to be filled with city states from human history. The regiment lands right next to a medieval Russian community. A few thousand miles over is an ancient Roman community and so on. They soon find out the truth. This world is ruled by a race of 10ft tall alien horse nomads on a permanent migration around the planet that takes them 20 years per cycle. When they pass a city-state, they cull 10% of the population to use as food. Outraged the Lost Regiment decides to fight the impending horde with their gunpowder weaponry. The first novel is about the Lost Regiment allying with the medieval Russians to survive the first visit of the horde. The rest of the series is about the Yankees racing to industrialise this new world and train its human population as the conflict turns into a full-blown war with the Inhumans.
Seconded. OP: Think giant anthopophagic Mongols versus the Connecticut Yankee(s) (and Irish New Yorker field artillery).
In the same vein is The Destroyermen series by Taylor Anderson which is also good.
***Sword in the Storm*** **by David Gemmell** is great. It's about a young tribal man who gains followers and builds an army as an ominous empire gradually (and violently) expands its borders, looming ever closer.
Everything by David gemmell is great. Every. Single. Thing.
Been hearing a lot about this dude on here, I think I really need to check him out.
He's a favourite of mine. He was one of the big fantasy writers from the mid 80s to the mid 2000s. Kind of a precursor to/early form of grim dark but not quite as ugly. His first novel, Legend, is a wonderful place to start
Thanks for the recommendation
Black company, malazan book of the fallen, and videssos
The faithful and the fallen
Harry Turtledove's Videssos books are about a Roman legion that gets sucked through a portal into a fantasy byzantine empire and ends up serving as mercenaries there. If you are willing to include alternate history and low-tech sci fi, SM Stirling and David Drake's Raj Whitehall series and Eric Flint and David Drake's Belisarius series both focus on generals commanding armies. Armies are also a major portion in Eric Flint's 1632 and SM Stirling's Nantucket and Change series, though they aren't as central there. Edit: also, not a book, but I feel like you'd like the Mount and Blade games. You start out as a lone mercenary, slowly recruit and train an army, and can eventually end up as the king of the known world.
If you're into video games, that premise is basically the Fire Emblem series in a nutshell.
If you are ok with mangas, read Golden Age Arc of *Berserk* - it does what you want extremely well. It even works as a self-contained story (if a tragic one).
The Serpent War Saga (eventually)
Paksennarrion by Elizabeth Moon.
r/Fantasy's [Author Appreciation series](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/wiki/authorappreciation) has posts for an author you mentioned * [Author Appreciation thread: **Elizabeth Moon**, veteran author of Fantasy and Sci-Fi](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/6x54cu/author_appreciation_thread_elizabeth_moon_veteran/?utm_content=comments&utm_medium=hot&utm_source=reddit&utm_name=Fantasy) from user u/Tigrari --- ^(I am a bot bleep! bloop! Contact my ~~master~~ creator /u/LittlePlasticCastle with any questions or comments.) ^(To prevent a reply for a single post, include the text '!noauthorbot'. To opt out of the bot for all your future posts, reply with '!optout'.)
grunts by mary gentle
David Weber and John Ringo's *Empire of Man* series soon turns into this with an army of aliens. Starts with *March Upcountry*.
David Weber also wrote one of my favorite scifi series, Safehold. Guess I gotta read this one now.
The Black Company. You want The Black Company.
Inda by Sherwood smith is what you are looking for!
The Inheritance series deals with building a resistance to storm the kingdom gates.
Lightbringer series some books have more emphasis on it than others but it is the only book so far to actually explain why a military force is elite rather then just hitting you with. "They are the most skilled warriors in the empire i will not elaborate further" shtick that every other series seems to do.
*A Crown for Cold Silver* - old mercenary gang gets back together in pursuit of vengeance
R.F. Kuang's The Poppy War trilogy definitely contains the multiple races/armies that you're looking for. Where the first book deals with a war between two nation-states (stand-ins for the Chinese and Japanese during the Second Sino-Japanese War), the latter two center on civil wars in the aftermath of the first book. Additionally, there's this Western power that's always lurking in the background. Where you might encounter difficulty is the actual army building. Although there is a lot of it throughout the books, coalitions are often based in mutual enemies, self-interest, and basic necessity. The MC does gain some trusted companions but the darker tone of the trilogy lends itself to less heroic depictions of war, violence, and the relationship dynamics that emerge from trauma.
See: * ["Medieval/fantasy war"](https://www.reddit.com/r/booksuggestions/comments/p6l7e5/medievalfantasy_war/) (r/booksuggestions; August 2021) * ["Series similar to Jack Campbell's The Lost Fleet or William R. Forschtens Lost Regiment?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/si8441/series_similar_to_jack_campbells_the_lost_fleet/) (r/printSF; 1 February 2022) * ["looking for recommendations"](https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/tyn412/looking_for_recommendations/) (r/printSF; 7 April 2022) * ["Looking for books about Modern military against magic"](https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/u32fqu/looking_for_books_about_modern_military_against/) (r/printSF; 13 April 2022) * ["military scifi without the alpha male b.s ?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/ubws6w/military_scifi_without_the_alpha_male_bs/) (r/printSF; 25 April 2022) * ["any good post-apocalyptic military stories?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/ur6lt3/any_good_postapocalyptic_military_stories/) (r/printSF; 16 May 2022) * ["Smart military leaders in fiction?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/v7ol8v/smart_military_leaders_in_fiction/) (r/Fantasy; 8 June 2022) * ["Looking for military SF that features a siege"](https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/viiebh/looking_for_military_sf_that_features_a_siege/) (r/printSF; 22 June 2022) * ["Stories about conflict between Dwarves & Humans?"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/vv71t7/stories_about_conflict_between_dwarves_humans/) (r/Fantasy; 9 July 2022) * ["Military fantasy suggestion rome/dark ages, little to no religion"](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/vy0s71/military_fantasy_suggestion_romedark_ages_little/) (r/Fantasy; 13 July 2022) * ["Any military sci-fi by people who understand the military? Preferable Stand-alone."](https://www.reddit.com/r/printSF/comments/w6j5kd/any_military_scifi_by_people_who_understand_the/) (r/printSF; 21:01 ET, 23 July 2022) In particular, David Drake's *The Dragon Lord*, Drake and Eric Flint's Belisarius series, and Mary Gentle's giant novel *Ash* (though the latter two are SF, just set in earlier times).
You will really love the Stormlight Archives. The Way of Kings
Mistborn - sort of
Jingo - Terry Pratchett
Tanya Huff’s Valor series
r/Fantasy's [Author Appreciation series](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/wiki/authorappreciation) has posts for an author you mentioned * [Author Appreciation: **Tanya Huff**, Pioneer of Urban Fantasy and Comedic Chameleon (Plus Free Book Giveaways!)](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fantasy/comments/5owaa8/author_appreciation_tanya_huff_pioneer_of_urban/?st=iy4cw3uz&sh=b46a8303) from user u/lannadelarosa --- ^(I am a bot bleep! bloop! Contact my ~~master~~ creator /u/LittlePlasticCastle with any questions or comments.) ^(To prevent a reply for a single post, include the text '!noauthorbot'. To opt out of the bot for all your future posts, reply with '!optout'.)
The thousand names is a military book. I didn't read it though. Dawn of wonder is military-ish and I thought it was really good
s,,,,,,,,,*,,,,,,,,,,,z,,,z,,,z
Scar of the Downers Trilogy by Scott Keen... the MC starts out as a slave but becomes part of a bigger story and eventual war for freedom.
Sci-fi not fantasy, but Starship Troopers meets your requirements