Thanks guys. This has all been very helpful so far.
Certain folks would be exempt from conscription, I imagine. I don't know to what extent Polish farms were collectivized in the 1980s, but I imagine that at least some farmers and farm laborers would be considered "essential workers" and therefore off limits to the draft. Even at war, a country has still got to eat!
I'd add in a couple of people with serious physical or mental disabilities to the 16-60 range bracket, people that would have been excluded from conscripted levies.
Re deserters, absolutely, but I'd like to figure out a baseline first before adding them in. I'm sure some villages would have their own little militia made up of deserters; others would not, making them prime spots for a hero PC party to make a difference (a la Seven Samurai). The latter is what I'm trying to build. That baseline will be key- after establishing that, it shouldn't be difficult to generate variations.
On top of the baseline, I'd also add a severely wounded veteran or two- people that were disabled by war wounds and therefore mustered out of the military before returning to their home village.
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