Randomiser wrote:n7axw wrote:Hi Lyonheart,
Your scenario does make sense. The last textev does have Alverez on the Fort Sandfish road, but it really doesn't make sense for him to stay on it.
I wonder if he will be able to forage well enough to keep his men fed. The other question is if he will be tipped off to Hanth before running into him.
Don
Actually, the last textev has him 'halfway to Thesmar', as I quoted in my last post. That comes from a summary in the authorial voice so I think we can take it as being fairly well established.
But I agree with Isaac Newton that Lyonheart's suggested rate of progress is far too fast. They don't have a highroad once they turn west, they do have a baggage train to slow them down and if they have to forage as well, that's going to be even slower.
I just found an interesting forum discussion about marching rates in the Americal Civil War
http://www.armchairgeneral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107050
For example, one chap discusses Sherman march thru Georgia where they go for a month at about 10miles/day
Shermans troops were veterans but and kept up a good average pace for a month. Some units greatly exceeded it on some days. The army traveled with limited wagons and artillery but they had to forage extensively. The march was a prodigious feat. No green armies or group of commanders could have kept it up so long. Most troops did far more than double 5 miles a day. I've seen it suggested that Sherman's march was 300 miles. I find that unacceptable but I realize that we are talking marching miles not airline miles. Considering the roadnet of the time plus tactical concerns and strategic deception I realize many troops may have surpassed that.
that sounds like a similar sort of scenario to Alvarahez