[webheart]

Villages are very small towns. I once lived in an actual village. The streets were cobblestone and there was one intersection where one road into town met the main road that went through town. There was one store and one gasthaus. There were probably a couple of hundred people in the whole village. The farmers fertilized the fields with the sewage from the town. Houses were heated with coal. I don’t see how something so small could be “key” in any war.

[Svartalfiar]

Villages are very small towns. ... I don’t see how something so small could be “key” in any war.

It's not a matter of town size, it's the terrain or geography or nearby locations. Maybe the town is close to the only bridge/fordable point across the river for miles. Maybe it's a higher location with good visibility over the best roads around to move equipment on. Maybe it's onthe only road that goes through the local mountain pass or swamp.

I can't say how 'key' this particular place actually is, but there's more to it than just 'very small town'.