Fatigue
Every man and horse, you among them, has two measures of how worn out he is:
- Breath lasts seconds. Sprinting, fighting and climbing spend it, and it comes back as he walks or stands.
- Rest lasts hours. The march and the fight spend it, and it comes back with sleep and shelter.
Rest sets how much Breath a man has: a worn-out man runs out of breath sooner.
Breath
Section titled “Breath”A full breath lasts one game hour of sprinting, a real minute. Left unused, an empty breath fills again in about as long.
| What | Spends |
|---|---|
| Sprinting | A full breath in 60 s |
| Each swing | 2.5% of a full breath |
| Holding a block | 0.3x a sprint |
| Swimming | 1.2x a sprint |
| Climbing | 1.5x a sprint |
| Moving over your carry | 0.5x a sprint for each whole carry over |
| Heat | All of it faster |
Walking and standing fill it again. A man has less room for breath when he is short of Rest (down to 40% less when spent), wounded (down to 40% less), hungry (20% less) or overloaded, though never less than 15%. The less room he has, the slower his breath comes back.
The stomach
Section titled “The stomach”Breath needs food in the stomach. Every man’s stomach, yours too, holds up to a day’s food. A day at rest uses a quarter of it and a marching day three quarters; a fight uses it like the march, and sprinting, swinging and swimming burn more. Breakfast at 7:00 and supper at 19:00 fill it, when the train is near with food. From half full up a man has his full breath; on an empty stomach, two thirds of it. A horse’s stomach is its fodder: it drains on the march and fills grazing, or in winter from the train. The HUD’s food bars show your stomach and your horse’s fodder. Everyone starts with a full stomach.
Out of breath
Section titled “Out of breath”Below 5% of a full breath a man is winded until he is back over 30%. While winded he:
- cannot sprint or climb,
- swings 35% slower, and his blows deal 75% of their harm,
- has his block broken by any hard blow.
Horses
Section titled “Horses”A horse has its own breath. Winded, it is blown: it trots at most (55% of a gallop) and lathers once it has spent half its breath. Spur a blown horse on and each second it may go lame (3% a second). A lame horse only walks.
Soldiers
Section titled “Soldiers”Soldiers mind their breath. A man walks rather than sprint when he is down to a quarter of it, unless he is running for his life. A man on foot fighting with less than 15% left steps back about 8 m out of the fight and comes back in once he has 60% again, so tired front ranks change places with fresher men.
Your breath
Section titled “Your breath”A small breath bar shows on the HUD only while your breath is short of full. Under it a note says when you are out of breath and when your horse is blown or lame.
Rest is a meter that is full when rested and empty when spent. Each man keeps his own. An army’s Rest is the mean of its men’s, and armies far off keep only that mean.
What spends it
Section titled “What spends it”| What | Rest spent |
|---|---|
| Marching by road | All of it in 12 hours |
| At night | 1.5x |
| Rough ground (trees, marsh, snowfields, steep slopes), mud or snow | 1.3x each |
| Under heavy loads | 1.3x |
| Fleeing | 1.5x |
| Sprinting on the map | 3x a march |
| Fighting | A quarter an hour |
| A winter night in the open | A quarter by dawn |
On the field, every second of a man’s hard going (sprints, swings, climbs) costs his Rest what a sprint on the map does. Each point of the captain’s Warfare and of the men’s mean Athletics makes the march cost 3% less.
An army sprints on the map only while its Rest is above 40%, except a routed army, which runs until it is spent.
What gives it back
Section titled “What gives it back”| Where | Rest back |
|---|---|
| Camp, fed and dry | All of it in a 12-hour night |
| A tent | A quarter more (poor 10%, fine 40%) |
| A lit fire | A tenth more |
| An inn, a quartered village or a friendly town’s walls | An eighth an hour, in any weather |
| A stall at an inn (horses) | A quarter an hour |
| Standing about out of camp | 4% an hour |
Rain or snow halves a night’s rest on the bare ground. A bedroll keeps off half the wet and a tent all of it. A fire keeps off three quarters of a winter night’s cold.
Men in camp rest by where they sleep. When an army has places of different worth (a roof, tents of each tier, bedrolls, bare ground), the best go to the longest-serving men.
Running short
Section titled “Running short”As Rest runs down an army marches slower, down to three quarters of its pace. A worn-out man in a fight deals up to 30% less harm and takes up to 25% more.
A man who is spent on the march falls out of the column and comes on alone, and the column goes at the pace of those still in it. When it halts, the stragglers catch up. If every man is spent, the whole column straggles at half pace. The Party screen lists each man’s Rest and who is falling behind.
Horses tire the same way. An army with riders or beasts in its train goes at the pace of whichever is more worn out, its men or its horses.