Quote:
Originally Posted by pmulcahy11b
I'll grant you I was being flippant, but I just don't see keeping EPWs around. They are a drain on resources and personnel. If your players are a small group, they just don't have the resources to keep EPWs around. Thus, my remark.
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In a small group, sure, keeping EPWs may be pointless.
But then deaths for no good reason seem pointless to me, too.
Getting a reputation for killing all EPWs may be hazardous to your health - they start hunting you in particular.
You can always strip them of equipment and leave them tied to a tree (this is one of the ways of making contacts).
It depends on the situation
- are you passing through an area, soon to leave?
- are you inbound on a specific mission and will soon have to transit back through the same area?
- is this part of your area of control in which you found intruders?
- are these enemy soldiers or marauders known for killing anyone and anything they come across?
- how long do you expect to have to operate as a small detached group?
To me, these are all factors in deciding what to do with enemy EPWs.
For a larger group, having a labor source for less soldierly aspects of cantonment can be useful. 50 EPWs watched by 5 soldiers while they work in the field is a net gain of 45 men that are then available for soldiering.
Another option - sell them (or their labor). There are active slave markets in Poland, and probably elsewhere.
And you can always remind them that as much as they may not enjoy being slaves, permanently or temporarily, you could have killed them, and chose not to... (but if they are really unhappy, you can fix that for them).
Uncle Ted