In games with multiple armies, which are the strongest respectively?

[indigoasis]

Across the Fire Emblem series, there are a handful of titles that give the player access to different armies to control during the game. Army availability varies from game to game, but among the games that include them (and feel free to mention any that I might have missed):

• Gaiden/SoV - Access to Alm and Celica's armies are available at the same time starting with Act 3
• Genealogy of the Holy War - The game is split into two generations, led by Sigurd and Seliph respectively
• Radiant Dawn - Like FE4, the game is split into multiple parts, with access to different armies as the game progresses
• Fates (Birthright and Conquest) - The player decides on which kingdom to side with, each with exclusive units to use depending on the choice made
• Three Houses - Like Fates, the player decides on a House to join, each with units exclusive to that House
  • Three Hopes - This game includes the same exact characters as Three Houses, but the game itself plays quite differently from it's predecessor, so there is a fundamental difference in gameplay that may give one army an advantage over another that did not exist in Three Houses

So, among the games with multiple armies, which of them is the strongest in their respective title? Feel free to include any DLC characters with the army of your choice.

The army options are:

• Alm's vs. Celica's
  • Friendly reminder that Celica can potentially recruit Kliff and Faye into her army in SoV
  • Emma + Randal and Shade + Yuzu can join either army
• Sigurd's vs. Seliph's
  • Consider Seliph's army composition (substitutes, who the parents of child units are, etc.) up to your own discretion
• Dawn Brigade vs. Royal Knights vs. Greil Mercenaries
  • As for Silver Army vs. Greil Army vs. Hawk Army, since certain units aren't available up until that point of RD, you can again consider army composition up to your own discretion
• Hoshido vs. Nohr
  • For the sake of comparison, Revelation is not included since it converges both armies into one
• Black Eagles vs. Blue Lions vs. Golden Deer
  • You can consider any Church of Seiros members that are available in each route as part of that particular army

[Armchair General]

For SoV, I'm kind of inclined to say that it would be Celica's group on account of how powerful magic is compared to conventional attacks. But this isn't really factoring in how the terrain and most of her maps provides an series of choke points whereas Alm has to live through the cavalry spam, an couple of times.

 

With Fates, it kind of depends on the weaponry involved; but Hoshido relies an lot more on stat manipulation and evasion than Nohr does; so the results are kind of murky. I'm not sure if they actually get an actual tank that isn't Ryoma, for one. But without an good combination of abilities, certain counters or shuriken spam, I'm half expecting them to lose against their Nohrian counterparts.

 

With 3H, the Golden Deer are essentially out of that race because the only broken people that they have is Lysithea, Ignatz, and Lorenz's heirloom. The Lions get the boar and his handler, which can easily kill anything. And outside of Ingrid, most of them are fairly good at their roles in combat. Now, if you pitted them against the Eagles, it kind of depends on who gets the first strike in and kills off their mages; otherwise, that fight can go either way once Dimitri is downed.

[Etrurian emperor]

Shadows of Valentia: 

This one is the easiest. Alm's army is the stronger one. Because Alm actually has an army. He leads the official army of Zophia while Celica is just her and her traveling companions. Alm has mooks, Celica by all accounts doesn't. 

Genealogy:

Seliph has more holy weapons so his army is probably the strongest one. Also he conquers all of Granvelle while Sigurd doesn't. 

Fates:

The games usually depict Nohr as being vastly stronger than Hoshido. Without Corrin's direct involvement Nohr comfortably conquers Hoshido. Even Birthright where Hoshido wins its depicted as a sneak attack because Hoshido has no hope of a conventional victory. 

Three Houses

The Empire comfortably wins. They're the strongest, largest and most populous nation. For most of the story Dimitri doesn't have the whole Kingdom army but is instead a hobo accompanied by a bunch of misfits, and there's dialogue stating that the Alliance is militarily the weakest of the three nations.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

In Radiant Dawn, it's neither the Greil Mercenaries nor the Dawn Brigade, but instead, the Begnion Central Army. Even the Hawk and Beast Tribes, plus the Greil Mercenaries, are able to stand up to them. It's only by Begnion experiencing a civil war that the Laguz Alliance manage to turn the tide.

As for Fates, here is the question - who controls Fort Dragonfall? In Conquest, the Hoshidan Army does, meaning they are the stronger ones. But in Birthright, the Nohrian Army does, making them the bigger threat. So basically, whoever Corrin isn't siding with. You don't go there in Revelation, so I'll say it's the Vallite Army, of only because Anankos' powers are unpredictable and scary.

In Three Houses, the Adrestian Empire is the strongest force on the continent. The Alliance and Kingdom have to rely on each other, plus the remnants of the Church of Seiros, to stand against the Empire. But on CF, the Empire is basically able to take over the continent on its own.

[Jotari]

It's going to be different wether you're considering gameplay or story. Because in terms of gameplay, Celcia's army probably is more powerful with its mages and potential dread fighter loops. But in universe Alm's army is obviously much stronger as he's fighting pitched battles against Rigel's own army while Celica involves herself in more minor skirmishes by basically trekking through desert and swamps and taking the back door.

On 2/21/2023 at 8:18 AM, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

In Three Houses, the Adrestian Empire is the strongest force on the continent. The Alliance and Kingdom have to rely on each other, plus the remnants of the Church of Seiros, to stand against the Empire. But on CF, the Empire is basically able to take over the continent on its own.

In three of the four routes the Adrestian Empire finds itself in a five year stale mate despite both the Kingdom and the Alliance being embroiled in civil war (with the other half supporting the Empire). In other words, even using subterfuge to get half of the enemy on their side (and in one case effectively assassinate their monarch), the Empire still couldn't conquer half of the kingdom and alliance. The fourth route is Crimson Flower, where the alliance sits out of things entirely and the full might of the Empire gets to go against the full might of the Kingdom with the Church's help, and still it's a five year deadlock. In Three Hopes the Empire can never beat the alliance and only ever manages to beat the Kingdom with the Alliance's help. It seems if you actually analyze how things go down without Byleth's help, the three powers really are quite evenly matched and only ever stand a hope of conquering another by ganging up 2:1.