How would Redcliffe be such an important military asset when it only has a population of 200 people? Or does this refer to the arling and not the capital town? It's strength would be mostly intact due to not having sent anyone to Ostagar, but it doesn't appear to have that much to offer in the first place.
And for that matter, what's the distribution of strength in Ferelden anyway? Is most of it concentrated in the bannorn? The teryns? The arls? The crown?
I don't really take the "numbers" we're given as being factual. We can probably kill... oh... half that number of corpses in-game. Maybe a fair touch less. If only 200 people lived there, it'd be rather silly.
200's about the size I'd expect of a bann's village, or perhaps Lothering. Apparently, Lothering has 500 people living in it. Yet this is an area that has a bann as its lord, not an arl. One would expect the actual seat of an arling to have a lot more people then a dinky village, even if said village is situated at a crossroads of sorts. But then Redcliffe also has merchant value IIRC.
I don't know much about the relative size of hamlets to villages to cities in medieval times (though I'm looking that up), so I can't speak to their strength. But I feel confident enough to say that I doubt Bioware knows either.
It's safe to assume that Redcliffe Village wasn't to scale. Outside of the AC series, I don't think I've played a game where a city truly feels like a city. Although there not to scale also, it's just a general restriction of video games that's just more pronounced in RPGs where you can actually interact with the 'populace'.
The Redcliffe forces that serve Eamon are likely made up of not just his personal troops, but those of every Bann and freeholder that's allied with him. The Bannorn probably has most of the military strength overall, but it's made up of lots of little holdings that choose their own allegiance. So when the call to arms went out for the Blight, a great many Banns and freeholders probably flocked to Eamon's banner. Since these many smaller forces can choose their own allegiances for internal Ferelden politics, the importance of Redcliffe in Origins is probably less about the actual territory and its resources (castle, troops, currency) and more about Eamon's personal influence over all those lesser lords and landowners.
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