If the village is attacked, only the Farmers are there to defend it. Unlike towns and castles, villages cannot hold a garrison. If you have low Renown or a village is very poor the recruitment options will function but you will be told no-one was willing to join you. The higher your reputation, the more recruits you will receive. Each recruit requires a small joining fee. Unless the villagers dislike you (see Reputation), you can recruit peasants to your army, either with the 'Recruit volunteers' option or by talking to the Village Elder unlike the villages your faction owned from the beginning, captured villages will offer you Recruits of whatever faction the village originally belonged to. The reputation only lowers when you actually enter the loot screen, so if you accidentally choose the wrong option you can pick 'Forget it' and avoid the reputation penalty. You can buy food from the villagers or force them to give you goods forcing them to give you goods will lower their reputation towards you (buying the goods from them will not affect their opinion of you).
