Rations

[Velax]

Why would it be affected by region population? 100 bushels of food is 100 bushels of food, no matter how many people live in the region.

[Anaris]

Why would it be affected by region population? 100 bushels of food is 100 bushels of food, no matter how many people live in the region.

Do you know how big a bushel actually is?  It's quite a bit for one person to carry, even if it's divided up into a few different bags and sacks slung about his person.

[Velax]

Sure, but how is that relevent to my question? My 20 men are going to carry away a certain number of bushels to feed themselves, and that amount will be the same no matter whether 200 or 20,000 peasants live in the region.

[fodder]

you find peasant, you rob peasant. you don't find peasant, you don't rob peasant?

you find lots of peasant, you rob lots of peasant?

[pcw27]

Could a region that's been looted for rations be subject to accelerated rot for a certain period, the rational being the soldiers would take all the nonperishable food first.

[Penchant]

Tom's point I beleive it is true they will take the same amount anywhere they go but when you consider it, if 10k peasants eat lets say  10 or 15 bushels a day imagine how little 20 people stealing food is. You can't expect 20 soldiers to be able to steal an amount equal to what 1k peasants eat which is 1 or 2 bushels a day.
Also the bushel numbers were made up and likely not very accurate.

[JPierreD]

Also the bushel numbers were made up and likely not very accurate.

It has been clearly explained in the wiki: http://wiki.battlemaster.org/wiki/High_Tech_Game

[Penchant]

Nice page

[vonGenf]

Do you know how big a bushel actually is?  It's quite a bit for one person to carry, even if it's divided up into a few different bags and sacks slung about his person.

A bushel is 8 gallons of dry goods, or roughly 32 liters. A bushel of wheat, for example, weighs 27 kilos, or 60 pounds.

We can't expect a single soldier to carry more than a bushel, really, and even that is probably a stretch. Even then, that means a medium sized army could remove 500 bushels from a single region, which is certainly enough to cause problems in most cities.

[Zakilevo]

A bushel is 8 gallons of dry goods, or roughly 32 liters. A bushel of wheat, for example, weighs 27 kilos, or 60 pounds.

We can't expect a single soldier to carry more than a bushel, really, and even that is probably a stretch. Even then, that means a medium sized army could remove 500 bushels from a single region, which is certainly enough to cause problems in most cities.

27kg? That's heavy. I do not think a soldier can carry even a bushel if you think about the weight of equipment a single soldier carry around. If they are well armed, they will probably carry at least 15-30 kg.

But if we want to make things simple, I guess we can make them carry 1 bushel. Don't forget. BM is a high tech game. :)

[pcw27]

27kg? That's heavy. I do not think a soldier can carry even a bushel if you think about the weight of equipment a single soldier carry around. If they are well armed, they will probably carry at least 15-30 kg.

But if we want to make things simple, I guess we can make them carry 1 bushel. Don't forget. BM is a high tech game. :)

A modern soldier can carry up to twice the weight of a busshel of grain. Battle Master soldiers probably come from lives of heavy manual labor so I don't think a busshel of rations plus equipment is hard to accept. Plus we could just say they have a few pack animals with them.

[Zakilevo]

People were shorter and smaller back in the days. Their equipment were heavier as well. Well armed soldiers probably needed some animals to carry their stuff around.

[pcw27]

Battle Master is a fantasy world so exact details like height aren't necessarily true of the world.

A feudal infantry force might have considerably lighter equipment then a modern soldier. Many would have just a repurposed farm tool and the cloths on their back.

A unit equipped with hauberks, bucklers and a sword (which would be amazingly good equipment for peasant infantry) would be carrying about 40-50 pounds. The sword would be 1-5 lbs (A 6 foot long claymore could be as little as 5 lbs), the bukler probably 1lb, and the hauberk between 20 and 40 lbs. Compare that to the modern infantry gear of a kevlar vest, helmet, assault rifle and several magazines of ammo.

In any case flavor texts can simply say (rations are carried in your soldiers packs and on the backs of pack animals). The unit of one busshel per man still seems to be about the right standard.

[Penchant]

In Battlemaster they aren't running around with a farm tool. The noble is paying for good equipment for the unit to use, they are used by the soldiers but not owned and we don't maintain the same equipment because after a noble's entire unit got wiped out and he barely made it out alive himself you can't expect him to have carried the equipment for 20 new men.

[De-Legro]

In Battlemaster they aren't running around with a farm tool. The noble is paying for good equipment for the unit to use, they are used by the soldiers but not owned and we don't maintain the same equipment because after a noble's entire unit got wiped out and he barely made it out alive himself you can't expect him to have carried the equipment for 20 new men.

For units with decent armour and weapon values sure. For those with lower stats then things like farm tools are appropriate weapons.