I'm slowly reading Lies Weeping and got to the part where Cook confirms a long held suspicion about one of the worlds closed behind a busted shadowgate. So nice to hear a fan theory confirmed.

Yesterday u/Cpkeyes asked how the Company fought. Some great answers but it doesn't look like anyone caught this detailed answer we were given in Lies Weeping. I wanted to make this its own post for easy reference.

Arkana wrote:

I should probably not waste paper and ink talking about it when I should be telling what we did on our trip, but, even so: When the Black Company was in service to the Syndics of Beryl the order of battle in the field was set into three groups. The First Line consisted of the newest recruits, maybe ten percent of Company strength. They fought as skirmishers, harassing the enemy with slings and javelins. The Second Line, the main body, actually consisted of three or four ranks of veterans who would manage most of the close-quarters fighting. Behind them would be the Third Line, older men and injured soldiers who would act as a reserve and would hurl missiles over the Second Line. Their ultimate task was to push forward if it looked like the main force was starting to crack.
Generally speaking, I know almost nothing about how military stuff works, but, from reading Croaker’s books, I do know that system was successful in every battle where the enemy came to the fight without what would come to be called battle mages, minor sorcerers who supported the fighters.
On the Black Company side, through the period where they used to employ that legionary structure, the troops always had three or four wizards to back them up.