"Supply Consumption in the Sudan" Topic

I'm hoping to play a campaign game set in the Sudan, I'm using the Black powder rules for basing/combat resolution but the Campaign element needs help. Specifically supply consumption and carry weight (per pack animal).

For example, one battalion/regiment must move overland X amount of miles/kilometers. What is the consumption by the combat unit and what would be the consumption by the supply animals as well? The assumption is that animals whose load was consumed would be sent back with enough food and fodder to get to the supply depot.

This leads to some interesting problems to be solved.
Given a fixed amount of transport animals for the expedition The campaign questions would be one of how many regiments could be fielded for a mission from point A to point B.

In a tactical sense, the pack train must be defended.
Knowing how many pack animals would be on the table at the time of conflict depends on the previous amount of consumption and transport used.

This also lead to the question of what capabilities are left if a certain amount of pack animals are captured or run off?

For various reasons, the figure ratio is 50:1. This is both people and pack animals. This would be the basis for table top representation.

So far, the information turned up is both spotty and misleading. I throw myself at the mercy and generosity of the TMP hive mind.

Hrm… I found a bunch of that when I was looking around, lemme see if I can find it again.

A bit short on sources, sorry, but I found the following:

Supply Train
So I was talking with a friend of mine currently in Afghanistan last night (this was several years ago, he's out of Astan now), and asked him what a reasonable weight of supplies for 100 men for 2 weeks would be.

If no foraging is possible:
6000lbs water (750gal, 0.5gal/man/day)
2000lbs food (1.5lb/man/day)
1200lbs ammunition (12lbs/man)
800lbs other supplies (medicine, etc)
10,000lbs total

If foraging:
2000lbs water (250 gal)
800lbs food
1200lbs ammunition
800lbs medicine
4800lbs total

Cavalry, assuming 50 men per squadron/company:
10gal water per horse per day
~10-20lbs grain per horse per day, assuming heavy work, plus grazing at night
(mix of hay and grain is heavier, but better for the horse: 20lbs hay, 10lbs grain)

If unable to forage:
1125gal water (call it 120 barrels of water, 9600lbs)
1200lbs people-food
14,000lbs grain
600lbs ammunition
800lbs miscellaneous supplies
26,200lbs total

If foraging:
375gal water (call it 40 barrels of water, 3200lbs)
400lbs people-food
500+lbs grain for horses
600lbs ammunition
800lbs miscellaneous supplies
5500+lbs

Water barrels 85lbs ea
Sack of oats 82lbs ea
Bale of hay 250lbs ea
Food box 70-80lbs ea
Camp kettles 45lbs ea
bundle of firewood 50lbs ea.
Tent Canvas 86lbs ea

Mules in the pack train need about 7gal water per day and 8-15 lbs feed. Pack mules can carry about 200lbs each. Rule of thumb seems to be mules needed = number of soldiers in unit (this includes feed for the mules and their drivers).

Camels generally need no water at all, and only need 10lbs grain per day. Pack camels can carry ~800lbs each. Foul-tempered critters, though, and horses don't like them.

Elephants can eat 400lbs of food per day, and drink 50 gallons of water. Pack elephants can carry 1200+lbs.

Wagon with 4 mules can carry 3000lbs

link

Real-world
Infantry Battalion:
10 GS Wagons
5 Carts
3 Mules

Cavalry Regiment
12 GS Wagons
2 Carts
1 Mule

Artillery Battery – TMP link
Gun&limber – NCO + 3 gun crew
Ammunition Wagon&limber – NCO + 2 ammo passers
+ 2 reserves, 6 drivers and 3 horse-holders for RHA

The 1897 loads for the 12 or 15 pdr. RBL are:-
limber with attached wheels but with the trail pole disassembled,
barrel on the second elephant,
trail on the third elephant with wheels detached and hanging in similar manner to the previous example.
( TMP link )
(http://www.flickr.com/photos/13305961@N00/3907822106/in/photostream/)

Mountain Artillery Battery
6 mules ( link )

Maxim Gun section
Cavalry/MI
2 guns on wheeled mounts, 2 wagons, one cart
Infantry
2 guns on wheeled mounts, 2 carts
Mule-borne
probably 3-4 mules. 1 for the gun, 1-2 for ammunition, 1 for forage

Profuse thank yous. With a little bit of calculating, the supply train now can be depicted in detail. That took a generous amount of time just to type in, let alone sequence the data and research. I'm truly in your debt.

Using the information given,, one could even work out the capacity of a depot by weight. (better finish painting those pack animals!)

I second Captain Beefheart. Thanks Lion In The Stars for the information really useful.

Yeah, I went a little nuts digging that stuff up, I wanted to know how big a pack train I needed because things like The River War and History of the Malakand Field Force just say 'pack train', never say how many critters!

In the process, I found some amusing tales of the Brits using camels for transport.

Eventually, camels get their dander up and decide to take it out on their human handlers. The Arabs deal with this by putting their old, worn-out clothes on a straw dummy and let the camel stomp the dummy flat, but one time the Brits took a pick handle to the nose of the camel that was attacking people and chased it back into the paddock, smacking it in the rump all the way. Never got another issue with that particular camel, oddly enough…

Another tale was the Brits loading up camels and realizing that they had more supplies than camels they started packing more and more on to each camel, the last camel in line needed all the loader's help to get it standing up, but when it was unloaded the Brits were astonished to pull 1200lbs of supplies off that camel's back! For the rest of the campaign, that camel was called Samson by the Brits.

I should point out that ammunition weights basically haven't changed since the Civil War, everyone stocks about 12lbs of ammo per person for the individual rifle. Modern armies just use that a lot faster.

In simpler terms, and from a different campaign zone, Custer took 110 or more wagons with him on the 1874 Black Hills expedition – there is a famous photograph that should be easy to find. That means two model wagons per cavalry regiment. However, both campaigns occurred well away from easy resupply points so not all that unrelated.

At least with the Black Hills, horse forage (and water) is pretty readily available. I'm under the impression that is not the case in the Sudan, particularly for water. This would let the 7th Cav use far fewer wagons for hauling horse fodder and water than an equivalent unit in the Sudan.

Even then, that was an expedition of 1000 men needing 110 wagons to haul all their stuff! I'd call it 1 wagon for every 10 men, plus one wagon for the HQ.

The lack of forage and water is a compelling mechanism for campaign decisions. The decider has to weigh decisions based Time,distance and consumption. The choke points may be a lack of transport, supply and the length between the source and the objective(s). Do you send a daring flying column or wait for the rail line to be finished?

Tactically this forces the player to consider how to defend the transport on the table. Strategically, how do you garrison the supply routes themselves? I suppose one could ask the Mahdists because they never seem to run out of stuff…

In any case, the campaign is (very) loosely based on the Fire and Sword in the Sudan campaign system. Right now it's mostly priming, painting and basing with the occasional foray to the note pad. Again, many thanks to all for their comments and especially Lion in the Stars for priming the pump. I've been re-finding all the dusty books and notes that were hidden away.

The Desert Column mode of operation was pretty straightforward : it mostly advanced in waves from well to well. Part of the force would be sent to seize the next wells, along with the pack camels train. Supplies would be offloaded and all camels (including the mounts of the first wave units) would be sent back to carry more supplies forwards, along with a second wave of units.

Camels not needing any water and camels being capable of carrying vast loads are the stuff of popular literature and legends rather than fact as the British found out. Plenty of camels were completely wrecked in short order.

Yes, you do need to water your camels every so often.

But you don't need to allow for 10 gallons of water every day per camel like you do for a horse! Horses, like men, need water every day or they die.

For pack animal supply needs, I figure to use the same rates for all because in the long run, a mammal of a certain size uses roughly the same amount of calories/water
as the next. If you neglect them, the mules die en-route and the camels get to the destination and then die.

IIRC, there's some very useful stuff on Sudan logistics in the original "Science v. Pluck" rules, which are still available as a download from the free Wargames rules wiki?

Got 'em. A critical part of the ols archives!

ols=old

That gets back to your foraging/no-foraging status. Sure, you need to carry lots of water if there's no water en route.

But if there is water at the destination, camels can (and IIRC should) go without water until arriving (at which point they will drink gallons and gallons of water).

Obviously, if you don't know if foraging is possible, you pack heavy.

@Basha Felika: Thank you for the suggestion of SvP!

I'm going to assert 'Fair Use' for the section of the Umpire's Pocketbook on water and post it here:

33 – WELLS AND WATER

Men need water every day: 1 gallon (1,000 lb. per company/squadron/battery) to maintain fitness. Less than 1/2 gallon makes them thirsty, which cuts movement by half and is ‘-l' from all die rolls. Be flexible about this, and remember that British troops will suffer worse from thirst than Egyptians or Sudanese.

Horses need water every second day, 5 gallons (2,500 lb. per troop/battery / 5,000 per squadron), less than 3 gallons makes them thirsty, half movement and no ‘+l' for charging.

Camels need water every third day in the summer, fourth in the cooler weather; 10 gallons per animal. Half speed if thirsty. British officers may be led to believe that camels need about a pint every third week-

Very bad things happen after a few days without adequate water. Serves 'em right whatever you decide to do to anyone who disregards this detail.

Without getting into the astonishingly dull realms; of counting units of condensed water, losses through evaporation or grading wells according to production, keep in mind that, in the Sudan, water is a crucial issue.

Here are some possible variants on the "arriving at the well" theme:

+ Well has plenty of water,
+ Well has some water, but not enough for the whole force.
+ Well endearingly fills up overnight after drawing water.
+ Well disturbingly remains dry for a long time after drawing water.
+ Well is decorated by attractive dead floating camel.
+ Well has brackish water, drinkable by animals but not people.
+ Well is just plain empty.

If the Intelligence Dept. has done its job, most of the wells and other sources (eg pools beneath the surface of dry river beds) will be known, though exact locations and water quantities may be vague. Smart ‘sportsmen' will follow the flight of birds at dawn and dusk – betcha didn't know that – to find water holes. As a rule, it's much easier to find water for 40 than 400, and 4,000 can be very difficult. The Nile, however, is pretty reliable --