>Sir Beane

Probably not...it really wasn't a significant thing until some time after the games end. Too bad, though. If TW games had a proper logistics system it could have a major influence on the game. As it is...it would be hard to show the effects of such a technology.

>Sol

I'm pretty sure by Napoleon III's time canned food was fairly common. The Republic of France (the original one) offered a reward to whoever could come up with a process to quickly and efficiently can food. Nobody came up with one, but the French did get some food in cans, just not a whole lot, and eventually they idea went out of favor until the development of proper canning machinery.


As to militia, one would hope they would be different. As has been mentioned, different states had very different practices in regards to their militia. The Dutch, for example, had what was an almost professional army for a militia, very well trained and equipped by the standards of the day, while most states 'militia' were basically just guys who got a uniform (if they were lucky) a gun, and were thrown onto the field with a bare minimum of training. The Russian militia were lucky if they had uniforms at all, since all the state provided was a cap to mark the men as militia.

During the Napoleonic wars, the Russians got so desperate that they started handing out pikes (the Swedes did this as well, if I recall). This did lead to some interesting developments, like the 'shotgun' column (it has a proper name, but I cant remember it), where two columns of professional troops would march on either side of a group of pike-armed militia, channeling them to the enemy and supporting them (or shooting them in the back :P) once engaged.