Transport by Caravans: Order No. 948
"The wine, and other goods, were brought from far away, from their kinsfolk in the South, or from the vineyards of Men in distant lands." (H)
What is the single most important resource for a nation's population centers to produce? The answer is always the same, "whatever they don't". The Northmen need steel to harden troops against Dark Servant invasions, something scarce in the rich plains of Rhun. The Witch King needs timber to fortify Angmar against the Rangers, Elves and Woodmen, but timber isn't found in abundance in the mountains. The Fire King can use food to support all those armies, but food isn't plentiful in Dagorlad. The Woodmen need gold to support their flagging economy, but Mirkwood is not a good candidate for mining.
If each nation had to survive on its own, it would have a VERY difficult time in doing so. Fortunately, this is a team game and the weakness of one nation can be supported by the strength of another nation. Transport by Caravans is one of the Orders that really allows team play. Proper use of this Order can greatly increase the chance of a team winning a game. Transport by Caravans allows nations that are rich in one or more resources to support a needy ally.
This Order is simple to use. First, the Order can be issued by any character. It is a Miscellaneous Order, so no special skill is required. Further, the Order is Automatic in its difficulty rating: even a starting character can be successful. Finally, the Order comes nearly last in the turn sequence, allowing a character to Move to the sending hex, then Transport by Caravans.
However, the Order is population center specific. A character MUST be in one of the character's population centers. It is important to note the short hand table printed in the rule book is misleading. As the full text of the Order points out, this Order can be issued from ANY population center. Note that unless the character is at the Capital, the character can only transport goods located at the character's current location. Finally, there are two other quirks with population centers and this Order. First, if either the Origin hex or the Destination hex are under seige, this Order will fail. Secondly, if the Destination hex is hidden, the Order will fail.
Additionally, this Order is easy to put down wrong on the Orders sheet. This is because this Order demands an exact amount, expressed in a quantity, of the goods to be sent. Compare this to Nation Transport (947) which requires a percentage of goods to be listed. Try sending the Dragon Lord 100% of your steel will get result in only 100 steel being shipped. Quite a difference. Also, because the Order is population center specific, it is crucial to know the exact hex where the goods are to be sent. Finally, remember that Gold can be sent to ANY population center: it will automatically be shuffled to that Nation's capital.
As with both Transport Orders, the caravans will attempt to take an additional 10% of the goods being shipped. If a nation sends 100 steel, the caravans will take an ADDITIONAL 10 steel as their fee. The way around this loss is to send EVERYTHING a nation has. This is because, as the rules point out, the caravans only take this fee 'if possible'. If a nation has 112 steel, send 112 steel to avoid the caravan penalty.
There are creative uses for this Order. First, a nation can use the Order to send goods from one of its population centers to another. For example, a character in Mirkwood camp could send all the timber to a major town near Mordor. Also, the order allows a nation to send supplies to neutral or enemy nations! This means one could start a totally trade based economy with neutrals, or send materials to an enemy to rub their nose in an event (such as sending someone 100 timber for 'caskets' after a battle).
As a final note, this Order can result in Nation Messages. This means that if the White Wizard sends gold to help out the Rangers, there is a chance the Nazgul will learn of this. An evil trick is to actually send product to a neutral to make the other side think that neutral has already chosen sides!
Over all, Transport by Caravans is a vital Order. The game can only be made more difficult by failing to use this Order properly.
Return to Firebrand's Order Analysis
Text Copyright 1999 by Jeffery A. Dobberpuhl. All game mechanics and terms are Copyright 1993 by Tolkien Enterprises, as produced, designed and distributed by Game Systems, Inc.