Standing Armies

Each player has been given a pool of AP to use to purchase units as he sees fit.  Each player was awarded three HQ for free, with the option to buy more.  Each standing field army must have one Commanding General, but Kings can assign a nameless HQ as a Lt. General to serve within the same army.  Or they can buy an additional "named HQ" to command a fourth standing field army to your forces.  A single nation could, if it wanted, start the game with six armies of 15AP, for maximum flexibility.  That would require some fancy footwork and coordination to keep individual forces from being overwhelmed at every turn.

Some kingdoms start with more AP than others, to help balance out the stronger map position.  Each player has been given at least enough AP to field two full armies with some AP leftover for flexibility.  Likewise, each kingdom starts with zero, one, or two navies.  

Bear in mind the tabletop rules assume two equally matched forces of 40AP fighting each other.  The way the rules of the tabletop game work, you'll want to have one HQ for every 30-40AP worth of troops.  You CAN field an army of 60AP, but one HQ will limit its effectiveness on the table.  A nation could start with one massive field army of 100AP.  Likewise, an army of 20AP can serve as an effective delaying force to halt the advance of a much larger army to buy you time for other plans to develop.