In previous articles time and effort were expended showing how to come up with some fact based estimates on supplies and "supply assets" needed for units in the field. In part 1, supply points and transport assets were defined. In part 2, this was put in gaming terms and related to different marching orders and it was determined that a commander has three major decisions to make - whether to put his troops in light marching order or heavy marching order; whether these troops will be supported by a supply line or carry all their supplies with them; and when it is appropriate to form flying columns.

These decisions will be affected by two things: the tactical situation and how many transport assets are available. In the last article some values were suggested for supply points and transport assets. After further play-testing it was decided that those values were unnecessarily complex. The following values preserve the spirit of the former while being less complex. One supply point is still the basic amount of supplies a unit (infantry battalion, cavalry regiment, artillery battery) needs for one week. One transport asset is now 100 horses or camels, 150 mules, 10 wagons or 5 trucks (for WWI campaigns).

Depending on a unit's formation, it requires a varying amount of supply and transport to make it through a week. Units in garrison require the least support, while units in light marching order require the most. The following table summarizes the relationship between supply, transport and movement.

Unit	Formation	Supply/week	Transport*	Movement/day**
infantry	garrison	1	0	0
infantry	hvy march	1	2,1	4
infantry	light march	2	4,2	6
infantry	fly. col	1	3,1	8
infantry	detachment	-	-	6
cavalry	garrison	1	0	0
cavalry	march	2	2,2	12
cavalry	detachment	-	-	12
artillery	garrison	1	0	0
artillery	march	1	2,1	6
artillery	mtn guns	1	1,1	8
supply	trains	-	-	8 loaded 12 unloaded
* first number = integral, second = weekly needed
** If a formation wishes to make a forced march, add two movement points for infantry/artillery and four for cavalry.

An example: a unit in light marching order requires two supply points per week. It needs four transport assets to carry its integral baggage, plus another two assets to carry supplies back and forth to base. It is allotted six movement points per day (terrain costs listed below). This unit need two supply points because of all the extra animals that need to be fed.

In order to activate a unit out of garrison, you must have the supplies and assets available to transport them. Units in garrison may only engage in the single hex they are in. Activated units may move freely as long as they do not get more than three day's march away from their supply lines. Remember, a supply train only reaches three day's worth of movement! If a unit wants to go farther, it needs to add additional transport assets. The gamer is free to use fractions of supply points or transport assets to account for half battalions or other units of non-standard size.

A detachment is a force that is company/squadron sized or smaller. Detachments are necessary for multiple reasons, but it is too complicated to try and keep track of their supply situation. It is recommended that players be limited to one detachment per infantry battalion or two cavalry regiments. In addition, detachments must stay within three day's movement of their parent unit. The overall allotment or availability of supply points is something that is determined by the referee beforehand, or can be determined by die rolls on a weekly basis. Rules for this might be presented in a future article...I run my campaigns on a week by week basis, but movement is done day by day. I find it to be a reasonable compromise.

My campaign map is a hex grid, with each hex 10 miles across. The movement rates are set up so that a unit in heavy marching order basically moves one hex per day. I use the following rates, but the gamer is welcome to adapt and adjust for his own needs. This table list costs in movement points.

Movement Points

Terrain	Unit Type
	Inf	cav	art
Open	4	4	4
Rough	6	8	-
Very Rough	8	-	-

If a road runs through rough or very rough terrain, treat the terrain as one lower level of difficulty. roads in the open convey no bonus. Now you may be wondering, if an infantry unit only has 4 movement points, how can it move into rough terrain? Well, I allow units to roll percentage die to see if it can move in these situations.

For example, in the mentioned situation, the unit would have 4 (movement points) divided by 6 (movement cost) = .67 % chance to move into that hex on that turn. So percentage dice are rolled and anything less than 68 indicates the unit moved. If the unit fails to move, it indicates that some sort of hang-up occurred. A deep ravine was encountered, or a detour had to be taken, for example. This table also allows for excess movement points to be used in the same way. If a unit has 6 movement points and uses 4 to move into one hex, it has 2 points remaining. It can use these 2 points to try and move an additional hex. if moving in the open, the chance would be 2/4 = 50%. Straggling is something not often covered in rules, mainly because of the bookkeeping involved. I will try to present a simple way of handling straggling based on movement and supply. Straggling may happen in any of the following situations: a unit attempts a forced march, a unit ends its turn past the reach of its supply line or if a unit ends the day without a source of water.

By and large stragglers are recoverable, but in hostile territory it is always possible that stragglers will be rounded up by enemy patrols or killed by hostile natives. Whenever any of the above situations occur, roll on the below table to see if there are any stragglers (stragglers are listed as a percentage of the total force being rolled for):

Stragglers

Formation	Die Roll
	1	2	3	4	5	6
inf. light march	5%	5%	-	-	-	-
inf. hvy march	10%	5%	5%	-	-	-
inf fly. col.	10%	5%	-	-	-	-
cavalry	10%	5%	5%	-	-	-
cav. fly. col.	10%	5%	-	-	-	-
artillery	10%	5%	-	-	-	-

Units of especially good or bad morale can be given die roll modifiers. Units with especially good or bad fieldcraft (as described in Soldier's Companion) could also receive die roll modifiers. Stragglers can normally be recovered at a rate of 5% per day while the unit does not move. Units out of supply can not recover stragglers until the unit is back in supply.

For simplicity, it is recommended that stragglers are always calculated based on the original strength of the unit. That is, if an 800 man unit loses 10% stragglers one turn (80 men), and then another 10% the next turn, count it as 80 men again, not 72. Otherwise you are just asking for trouble of the mathematical variety. In the opening paragraph it was mentioned that a unit may elect to use a supply line or carry all of its assets with it. It would appear, prima facie (I love Latin!), that taking your supplies with you is the better idea. This is not so in all cases. If you take all your assets with you, the animals go to waste as soon as you use the supplies they are carrying. You have to constantly guard all those extra supplies. If you run into trouble, you could find yourself cut off and out of supplies. I recommend using a supply line in all but the most extraordinary circumstances.

How is a flying column different? Flying columns carry all their supplies with them, yes. They also carry less baggage than they normally would, so a flying column is usually without its tents and other things that make life on campaign a little easier. As a result, flying columns can lose morale quickly. To reflect this, whenever a flying column rolls for stragglers, make an additional roll of 2d6. If a 2 or 3 is rolled, the flying column loses its movement advantage and moves like infantry in light marching order. Also, the flying column must return to its base before it runs out of supplies; it can not be resupplied in the field. The units in the flying column can not be redeployed for at least a week.

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