Preface 

We can't split armies in WH3 (as well as every other TW game since Rome 2).  

• A lot of people are unhappy with this due to how restricted the campaign experience becomes. It cuts out one of the only logistical aspects Total War ever featured, and removes very natural strategic decisions regarding army deployment and maneuvering.
  
• It was very engaging in Pre-Rome 2 Total War titles to be able to send selected units to other areas of the map to reinforce settlements or armies where needed. Not to mention, this is just a very intuitive thing to be able to do.
• The common notion is that this feature was cut to help mitigate bad AI maneuvering (that's the "nice" interpretation, at least, which doesn't call anyone "lazy" or bad at improving their AI code).
  

Proposal

Make generic lords recruitable directly from existing armies outside of settlements

• Being able to recruit a new lord directly from an existing army allows the play to split some units off of the main army, when pressingly needed, to move to a different objective or location on the campaign map.
  
• Nothing is OP in this aspect, as whether a lord is recruited from a settlement or an army isn't fundamentally different. But the option of having both is very practical.
• Opportunities for spamming or abusing this mechanic can be countered in different ways. For example, the recruited lord could spawn at a fraction of their full health.

Side note

An option could also be to add a new type of character, a "commander". This could be a direct copy of any existing hero unit, but whom could lead armies the same as a lord, though with a very limited or no skill set at all.

Do you really want a Vampire Counts player walk a lord up to your settlement, recruit 3 extra lords right next to it, fill them all with Raise Dead, and then surprise attack you with 4 full stacks out of nowhere?

Simpler solution, allow heroes in the army to create small army detachments with 6-8 units that can move independently of the main army.

Yes please. 3K system is also good.

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Traumtulpe#6946 wrote:

Do you really want a Vampire Counts player walk a lord up to your settlement, recruit 3 extra lords right next to it, fill them all with Raise Dead, and then surprise attack you with 4 full stacks out of nowhere?

How would you be surprised by a human bringing their army into your territory? 

Terrible idea. Delete this post and never talk about it ever again.

If you want to know what this is like, it's already in the game. Play as Spirit of the Jungle or any Beastmen faction with all Regiments of Renown unlocked and besiege a settlement with a full stack (doesn't have to be Nakai's army). Then with that stack, recruit a lord and hire all the RoRs in his army.

You are now aware how powerful this is.

The current implementation of the RoR system is its own issue. I don't understand why people are okay with it.

I don't think the RoR recruitment should dictate whether other interesting and beneficial systems should be implemented into the game. 

They should really just rethink what the heck the purpose of RoR units is, because right now it's just instant spawning of elite units.

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TainBoCuailinge#8335 wrote:

Simpler solution, allow heroes in the army to create small army detachments with 6-8 units that can move independently of the main army.

This would also be a cool solution. Maybe even more logical too.

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sgproductions87#4340 wrote:

If you want to know what this is like, it's already in the game. Play as Spirit of the Jungle or any Beastmen faction with all Regiments of Renown unlocked and besiege a settlement with a full stack (doesn't have to be Nakai's army). Then with that stack, recruit a lord and hire all the RoRs in his army.

You are now aware how powerful this is.

How hard would it be to remove the ability for a "splinter" army to recruit? The scenario that you've outlined is something that can be replicated in the game as it is right now (assuming that you can recruit RoR unit's in enemy territory). 

I don't think they should be recruited directly. Though I wouldn't mind seeing some of the Man of the Hour events from classic TW games make an appearance. Maybe it could go unit -> hero -> lord. So a hero getting to a certain rank might have an option to become a lord of that class, while a unit has the chance to become a hero. 

While in theory it's a nice idea, there are too many races who could easily abuse it, Vampire Counts being the obvious, but Nurgle, WoC and even Wood Elves (who can get awesome global recruitment) could instantly create massive armies on your door step, and I'm sure there are others I'm not considering (ignoring the RoR problem others have mentioned).

In practice, I'm also not sure what use half an army is. Unless desperate the AI hardly ever sends out less than fully recruited armies and even a small elite army will struggle against anything but a cheap filler army... Sure you could send half to help win a siege battle you would otherwise lose, but the remaining half is unlikely to be much use for anything else so you might as well send the whole army.

Counterpoints about how this can be abused are very superfluous. Nothing about this system would be inherently abusable or overpowered as it is simply a basic mechanic already in the game. In other words, you can already recruit as many lords as you want. This is a question about practicality, not abusability. Any and all extra measures can be taken to prevent issues.

The other part being described as an issue, that half an army is useless, is just undermining the argument for no constructive reason. The objective is not to split every army in two, the point is that when you can split off units from an army, you have more freedom and can perform more strategic maneuvres. Reinforcing nearby other armies or settlements is a primary example, and you would not be better off always sending the whole army. Sometimes all that's needed to tip the scale are a few units that could serve a specific role. Meanwhile the rest of the main army can stay in place to defend or move towards a different objective.

This is what strategy and planning is all about. It's honestly that simple.