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I just don't see how you could do that with some realism without dealing with normal bodily requirements.  Never mind snoring corpses, I'm talking heeding the call of nature!

One more try, because I'm obviously just not able to explain this well. I'm not talking about portraying the dead overnight.  I've lain dead twice, once in a coffin, once under a blanket. Agreed that half an hour or an hour is probably max for that. Either have no dead, or have particularly prompt burial details to move them away and recycle them as ambulance corps or stragglers or what-have-you.

But I can't figure out what would possibly hinder the call of nature for the wounded. I mean, wounded men pee just like anyone else, and in a pretty-much all-male field it would be so much easier than the logistic issues of an indoor downtown hospital.

At Burkittsville, historically, the most seriously wounded should have been using chamber pots handled by the hospital attendants, but many of the attendants were female because we were in a town, and there were modern public tours at times. So our compromise for modern decency was to have every wounded man well enough to hobble to the door with assistance if necessary, where he then went around back on his own and used the portajohn/privy.

In the jail cell, with the same problem of public visitors during the day, prisoners were escorted under guard to the fort's modern restroom across the parade ground. At night, with that problem gone, a more accurate solution was possible, so we were given a tin bucket to share, which a detail emptied in the morning.

If an event with wounded men was held with spectators during the day, the Burkittsville Hospital solution could be used during those hours. Though I'm picturing this more along the lines of, say, Payne's Farm, where there were plenty of woods and/or darkness, no females and no spectators for the bulk of the time, and therefore no minimum distance any given wounded man would have to walk to get to a suitable spot to pee, so each could do as he would have done based on his ability to walk.

I dunno. Are we on different wave-lengths here? Do you generally go to events without portajohns and female spectators, and without much lighting at night to see your way deep into the woods after dark? If so, I don't really see how this would differ, as far as sanitary facilities.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@voyager.net

Another thing, at some events you're given fate cards.  If your fate is to die or be wounded, make sure you go potty before marching out.

Linda.

Sorry - I was thinking we were referring to playing a corpse overnight.  I'm all for playing one for a few hours - whenever I take a mortal hit, I stay down.  I've tried thrashing around for a bit before expiring, or dragging myself out of the line of fire as well.  In any case, I don't pop up for a few pictures or to observe the progress of the skirmish.  Besides, playing dead gives me the the rare opportunity to study the entomological world, as various bugs go about their business in the grass near my head.