They're the only ones who know because no one else has dared to take them on, or at least gather info about them.

Sasha had to ask Jesus to go on that recon mission. He never thought of it before

 

But, until very recently Rick's group thought they'd wiped out the Saviours at the satellite station. Not sure what the Kingdom and Hilltop knows, but Oceanside told Tara that she didn't realize what they'd started - that there were many satellite stations and many Saviours. So Oceanside knows they're up against a large, organized group.

 

I don't think we have seen the scope yet. I assume that Simon's group lives elsewhere, as well as the group that deals with the Kingdom.

It seems like Negan has groups that deal with the other groups so he doesn't have to.

I kind of get the impression that it's run like the mob in some kind of pyramid style. The main saviors live in the sanctuary with Negan, but he has other locations and those locations deal directly with other groups. Deal with the pickups and drop offs, then deliver some to Negan and keep the rest. But they all have their own base.

This will be the focus as war rages on. Attack outposts and dwindle down the numbers that way.

 

The Republic of Negan?

 

Basically. To me the key was Simon saying "put this in the Negan truck" and how he was going to offer the scotch as a gift from himself.

I got the feeling that if Simon came from and was bringing everything back to the sanctuary, there would be no need for a "Negan truck". All of the stuff they took would be Negan's and everything would go to him regardless of which truck it was on. Plus we never see Simon at the sanctuary even though the truck went directly there with Carl inside. There were no other trucks going to the sanctuary. Negan and his crew arrive to empty it out and Simon is nowhere to be found. I felt that Simon and the other trucks went to his location while only the Negan truck went to the sanctuary.

 

I got a wild hair after the S6 finale and counted the saviors at the roadblocks. I kept coming up with 69-71.( I counted a fat dude as two a couple times because I don't have hi-def satellite. lol) I would say that is probably realistic for the fighting saviors.Our group killed 40 plus before that. I don't see how their could be several hundred with the size of the few existing communities. It wouldn't be sustainable. In this type of totalitarian rule the number of "workers" has to far outnumber the ruling class. That doesn't mean the people working for points won't fight though. But they aren't likely to be as formidable.

I agree that taking out the out posts first to deplete resources might be best. But also when an outpost gets taken out who's door are they going to knock on the next day? The immediate three communities would have to be ready for a counter attack.So it may be better to hit the sanctuary. Once Negan figures out the three communities are conspiring he could hit any one of them with everything, depleting the trio's resources. Now if Jesus's very realistic radio listening works they would know which community/ies are getting hit and could flank them. With SThey really need to do a little more intel than "I know where it is and This is part of the building layout". With Simon likely running an outpost they need to find that. And the outpost that was dealing with the Kingdom. So that's likely at least two more outposts.

 

I wasn't even thinking about Daryl when I wrote that. But Daryl escaping could also make Negan start looking at his own people (thinking it was an inside job). I think it was. He might go batty on the saviors. That may cause more conflict inside the saviors. Could go either way. But I think Negan will go looking for Daryl. He's got a real infatuation goin' on there.

The rearming thing is a big one. I'm still hoping Father G put guns/ammo in Maggies grave. I'm also hoping Maggie finished hiding guns when Glen,Michone and Rosita went after Daryl.

 

I thought, that Ezekiel and the Kingdom at least know the numbers. Ezekiel said to Morgan something along that line: that they would fight, but that the saviors are too many. I think, that was the reason, Ezekiel accepted the deal without bloodshed (? - still not sure about Bens father and the other dead knights). And Richard said something similar last episode to Carol and Morgan, if I remember correctly.

 

ammo maybe, but all the guns were accounted for.

 

The books could have been doctored to reflect only the guns they have in the armory.

It goes back to Maggie in season 6, after the raid on the satellite location. They were going through a ton of guns in rolling barrels and Maggie said they needed to hide some around Alexandria.

So it is possible they still have a bunch of guns hidden, buried, that are not logged into the book.

Having said that, I think Rick was sincere when he was taking to Michonne about giving all of the guns up out of fear of being caught with them and what the consequences would be.

 

I think there were guns not in the books, like the savior guns. The rifle Michone had wasn't in the books (savior gun). Whatever Heath and Tara had wasn't in the books.Carol's guns weren't in inventory.Maybe the one Carl pulled on the savior. With that many not on the inventory there could be several more.

Rick made a comment to Michone about learning the outpost's guns weren't cataloged after the saviors left. Rick may not have known about the guns Maggie was hiding. He went after Carol, had other people gone, Maggie got sick and they left for Hill Top in less than 24 hours if I remember correctly.

I do think Rick believes they gave up all the guns.

 

That's where my head is. It was Maggie who said they needed to hide guns. Rick wasn't around to hear that. Maggie wasn't there when Negan took their guns or to hear Rick tell tell town that they needed to give them all up. So he wouldn't be mad with Maggie for hiding them like he was Michonne and Spencer.

So it is very possible they still have a cache of guns and Rick doesn't even know about them. Could also answer why some of the Alexandrians in the church looked a little suspicious when Rick was asking them about two missing hand guns. Like they are thinking "Two hand guns? What about the xx number of heavy guns we buried in the grave?".

 

Do we really know if Negan's group has ever had a major fight? Maybe with Oceanside when their men were alive. Other than that all we've seen is the bullying tactics on small groups here and there (the library group, Rick's group on the road). If ASZ, the Hilltop and Kingdom work together and start to take out satellite stations, guerilla style, it could be interesting to see how Negan fights back.

 

I don't think anything other than what you mentioned. We don't really know what happened with Oceanside, like how big the fight was before the men and boys were executed. A lot of Negan's guys are just bullies riding the strength in numbers thing. I would think many would show their true colors when crap really hits the fan.