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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Brisk-sg" data-source="post: 1600976" data-attributes="member: 5037">It is true that many medieval armies did not have a well structured logistical systems. It is inaccurate that the Roman's did not however. It was one of the things that made the Roman war machine so efficient and powerful. As to how many people kept each soldier in supply I am not sure, it likely is less then 50% for the roman's, I am not certain of this. <a href="http://www.hyw.com/Books/History/Logistic.htm" target="_blank">http://www.hyw.com/Books/History/Logistic.htm</a><a href="http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/1999/1999-11-01.html" target="_blank">http://ccat.sas.upenn.edu/bmcr/1999/1999-11-01.html</a> It is true that an army can operate without a logistical system. But an army that does not have an effective logistical system will not be nearly as effective as one that does. Living off the land was/is much less efficient then a good logistical system. Each man needs a couple of pounds of food a day, and each mount many times that in feed. If these requirements are not met, the troops would first go hungry and then most of them would either desert or, if you were far from friendly territory, starve to death or be picked off by enemy troops. Furthermore, living off the land is a big time sink, greatly slowing an army. Eberron is a campaign setting that is more akin to Renaissance Europe then Medieval Europe. There are the equivalent to trains for instance (which revolutionized logistics in real life as well). I believe that many of the more effective militaries would have developed logistical systems during a hundred years of war. In real history, foraging fell out of favor in England and France during the Hundred Year war as a result of rampant campaigning, and thus rampant foraging. Wands of Create Food and Water probably would have been used during the war (since the war wasn't only fought by Warforged). However, the ongoing costs of Wands of Create Food and Water would not be cheap and would have to be renewed as well (operational cost). The soldiers would likely be paid (operational cost). The soldiers have to be supplied with weapons, armor, clothing, sleeping gear, and environmental specific gear (operational cost). During periods of reduced warfare entire armies of humans would probably be disbanded to reduce operational costs. When all-out war flared back up new units would have to be redrafted, trained, and then fielded (upfront cost and then operation cost). A warforged unit would be built (upfront cost) and then kept in the armies for a long period of time (this is changed by the treaty that is signed to end the war, though some nations got around this through indentured servitude) with a minimal operating cost. Remember, this is periods of all-out war (entire regions were destroyed), and not just brief and occasional engagements. It is stated in the book that all nations had at least a contingent of Waforged, though some armies had many and some had few. I agree that their weight would be a disadvantage in some circumstances. Also, manpower is a limited resource. The assumption that half-orcs are cheaper implies that there are an abundance of half orcs for you army. A half-orc could make as good of a soldier on the actual battle field, but do they really cost less over time? And can you continuesly field large armies of them? Half orcs are probally a bad example since the books states they are rare. I think there are logical reasons for the Warforged to exist.</blockquote>

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