Re: Avilry

From: bethexton_at_...
Date: Wed, 16 May 2001 15:41:08 -0000

> > Opinions anyone?
> > Larry
>
> Foraging. Hunting. Eating at battlefields. I agree, these beasts
are
> tough to maintain. > <snip>
> It all depends on their role. Are they shock-cavalry or scouts?
> Skirmishers (and hence foragers/hunters) or employed in large
bodies
> where centralized supplies work best?
>

Assuming that they aren't too finicky, then perhaps you can keep them working on something like jerky or salt fish, or your choice of dried and chewy flesh. Maybe with some dried bones mixed in to give it crunch :) Presumably the birds would need fresh meat periodically, but what do you think enemy dead are for? (this should make avilry all the more hated and feared. *spit* "We call 'em demon birds, we do. They'll eat ya up if'n they find you dead or wounded, so we always try and bring our injured and even our dead away after fightin 'em. Course, that slows us down and makes it harder to get away from fightin 'em. Like I said, demon-birds they are.")

If this dried meat diet works, this has the potential to make avilry a very effective fast deployment force, as a) the birds are lighter overall than horses are so should need less total calories, and b) animal flesh is generally a more concentrated source of energy than plants are. So you probably need less pounds of food per same sized unit per day with avilry compared to cavalry. See, that is why they arrived so suddenly in Sartar and your players didn't even know it :)

Of course, this is assuming the stupid birds have good long distance endurance.

--Bryan

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