Pikemen are semi-professional soldiers who are kept in readiness for war despite not permanently serving as soldiers. These men are equipped at their lords expense and therefore are better armed, forming a more effective fighting unit. Most pikemen are given decent armour, often a jerkin sewn with metal plates or even chain mail. This provides them with some protection from archery but rarely stops a determined sword thrust. Although they are not under-equipped, they are rarely enthused at the prospect of battle; their role is to form the mainstay of the army and provide stoic support for more professional units in attack or bear the brunt of enemy assaults. Hence it is usually the pikemen who pay the butcher's bill in battle as they are vulnerable to proper armsmen, and nobles are often willing to expend them to preserve their better trained, more expensive units.