And rice is important. Substitute rice for provisions and it is just as relevant today as then.
See, even in these days, when the oh so mighty and wise Rufuses that are soo learned in the superior Western art of war developed by Clausewitz that makes all other works on war useless, even today, what screws up LOTS of military operations is that someone forgot to bring enough food.
Hungry troops fights and THINKS poorly!
I am pretty tired of your constant Sun Tzu hating, Rufus, and the high handed manner it is expressed in.
But who am I to argue against a Master of Warfare like Rufus...
But since people still keep forgetting that essential thing called provision and supplies in general, I think Sun Tzu poking about the issue is more than warranted.
But armchair generals tend to happily forget about such
trivial matters since they donīt have to worry about their troops ever getting hungry.
And 40K and fantasy have their different challenges.
But what I think many people totally fail to appreciate is that they are played on totally different scales!
In 40K, one man is one soldiers. 1 tank is one tank!
In warhammer 10 man can represent a regiment AND the movement rules in warhammer are really not fitting a game of 1/1 scale.
I know the 7th ed totally dropped any mentioning of scale whatsoever, but Warhammer makes the ranked up unit move in a way that represents large units of hundred of men, rather than small forces of 20.
Hence, Warhammer is played in an enviorment where the firepower is limited and massed formation is needed. It is played on a higher tactical level than 40K.
40K is really a platoon or squad level game. The smallest maneuver element is the squad, just like in modern war. And as in modern war, squads stick together but move in a dispersed formation.
Yeah, you can rant on all day about 40K not being about modern war and that future wars should be totally different, but face it! Willingly or not, the greatest inspiration for 40K, with itīs massive firepower, IS the wars of the 20th century.
So 40K is mostly 20th century warfare moved forward into space, adding better body armour, but as the firepower has also been allowed to get even more devastating, it still creates a similar enviorment.
People who complain about 40K and hold up the real tactical challenge about movement in Warhammer donīt realize that movement canīt function in the same way today.
If my squad is spotted moving in the open, we will most likely be cut down by enemy fire and rightly so! In older days, you might be able to move across open ground, because the range your enemy could project their missiles where limited, and hence you could make more funky maneuvers.
You can make funky moves today aswell, BUT if you do that, you must ensure that a)
You are so protected that you can ignore what enemy fire might be directed at you.
Or b)
You move along routes that the enemy cannot observe.
There is also c)
where you move in an area the enemy can observe and fire into while not being totally protected against their fire, but you have set up your own firebases whose job it is to silence or suppress the enemy fire, ensuring your squad can reach the objective unharmed.
So there is lots of movement, but the enemys ability to fire into the area visavi your cover and or counterfire ability dictates the risk. You just canīt expect to be able to march up and make snassy Napoleonic maneuvers and expect to get away with it.
In 40K, firepower is effective and rightly so! It is just as it SHOULD be!
If you are not into modern warfare, you will most likely not like 40K.
But of course, that is because modern warfare is so simple it is childish.
However, in old days (the base for how things work in fantasy, like it or not...) everything was of course so much more tactical and demanding more skill than modern brutish combat.
When I hear people complain about how simple 40K is, that is what I hear behind the words.
If you do not like modern warfare, that is it, you will not like 40K, cause you want your troops to behave like in the movie Zulu! and that just ainīt gonna happen.
I however, appreciate both games for trying to capture the different styles of combat that the weapons and the level of protection dictates.
But donīt compare the game. They try to portray two very different things.
In WHFB, youré supposed to be a general, commanding an army, that at least in how it acts and moves represent hundred of troops at least.
I 40K, you usually play the role of a hard pressed company or companysized battlegroup commander, trying to get the upper hand in the constant game of fire and movement.
As for not being able to flee in 40K, you can.
But that is when you move your troops backwards in order to keep them out of charge range. Remember the different scales. An enemy in charge range is in 40k so close that turning your backs toward them would be utter suicide.
When charged in close combat in the hurly burly din of modern warfare, it is man to man combat, where you make a split second desicion to fight or flight. All this is taken into account in the assault phase. Consider many of those casualities as being made unto those of your lads that broke and made a forlorn attempt to escape, gratified by bullets in their back.
The easiest way to die in modern urban combat, for example, is to turn you back to your enemy.
