Horsemen of the Apocalypse

[therantingsavant]

Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Cavalry rules in the Twilight World

This post is the distillation of a lot of research from this forum combined with an analysis of the RAW from the T2k v2.2 corebook but in particular the threads: Cavalry in Twilight 2000, Cavalry in T2K and the excellent: Cavalry and Bicycles 2.2.2 PDF

Feedback and discussion welcome!

[Vespers War]

A criticism of the rules rather than the post - the mule is listed with an 80 kg load, but per the World War I era handbook for Quartermasters, a mule's typical load was 250 pounds, or ~113 kilos. The J-118 Escort Wagon was a 2-mule wagon that had a typical load of 3000 pounds (1360 kg), and on flat-and-level road could carry 5000 pounds (2260 kg). For horses, the US Cavalry Manual of Horse Management recommended loads be limited to 20% of a horse's weight, so that 350 kg horse would have a load of 70 kg (or, conversely, the 120 kg load would belong to a 600 kg horse). Some sources suggest that can go up to 30% of body weight, but that puts more stress on the horse according to veterinary studies.

One alternative not discussed in the rules is the use of dogs as pack animals. They can carry half their body weight and pull a cart or sled with double their body weight.

While they likely wouldn't be built until years into the post-war collapse, Conestogas with 4-7 horses could haul 5 tons over rather terrible roads, though usually 1 or 2 tons were given over to fodder for the horses (giving about 12-42 days of range from the absolute minimum of 1 ton for 7 horses up to the maximum of 2 tons for 4 horses).

The overland travel being the same makes sense to me. Strategically, cavalry units were often slower than infantry because of the time needed to care for the animals and their walking speed not being significantly faster. Cavalry is effective because of their tactical speed.

On a battlefield with any sort of automatic weapons, acting as dragoons makes the most sense, as a horse is a large target and a prone human is much smaller.

For the height difference, I'd use the Punch hit location table from James Langham's Unarmed Combat, and say that a mounted attacker hitting an infantry defender rolls 1d4 for hit location, while the infantry attacker hitting a mounted defender rolls 1d8+2 (and flips a coin for which arm if it comes up as arm).

[therantingsavant]

Thanks Vespers for the feedback and suggestions.

The mule's load always seemed off to me and I think it should be swapped with that of the horse but was writing RAW (rules as written) - I may add an edit in suggesting this "House Rule" quoting you however as it makes a lot of sense. (Edit: this has been inserted as a "sidebar" attributed to Vespers)

Hadn't thought of dogs actually, probably a whole separate post/article on the use of trained animals would be warranted if it's not been done before.

As for Conestogas, I'd always assumed the cart and wagon were the basic ones - heavier capacity rail-car wagons of 5 tons are briefly mentioned in Going Home which would not be dissimilar except the low friction of the rails allows less horses. I'd wonder if oxen would be more appropriate for the heavier wagons however. Maybe it needs a vehicle card actually.

Your overland travel rationale makes sense - I just found it odd as most systems have faster overland travel for mounted groups (although it's usually based on higher movement rate IIRC). Wayne has pointed out that there's a hit modifier for fast speed that a galloping rider can take advantage of so the tactical speed is really what makes the difference, even if dismounting is needed to be effective with automatic weapons. I still think there should be a benefit for melee combat while mounted or charging with a lance ruling but it's not that common a scenario to be fair. I will have to check out Jame's rules but that simplification makes sense based on what I thought.

I'll try and edit in some of these suggestions I think...

[Vespers War]

Originally Posted by therantingsavant

Thanks Vespers for the feedback and suggestions.

The mule's load always seemed off to me and I think it should be swapped with that of the horse but was writing RAW (rules as written) - I may add an edit in suggesting this "House Rule" quoting you however as it makes a lot of sense.

Yeah, I saw that you were working off the data cards, which was why I made sure to caveat it as a criticism of the rules, not the article.

Hadn't thought of dogs actually, probably a whole separate post/article on the use of trained animals would be warranted if it's not been done before.

I'm not aware of any, and it would be a useful thing. I thought of it because I've talked with a couple Iditarod mushers about their experiences, and a Canadian exhibit on mail sleds mentioned the load limits for pack dogs.

As for Conestogas, I'd always assumed the cart and wagon were the basic ones - heavier capacity rail-car wagons of 5 tons are briefly mentioned in Going Home which would not be dissimilar except the low friction of the rails allows less horses. I'd wonder if oxen would be more appropriate for the heavier wagons however. Maybe it needs a vehicle card actually.

I agree that the existing carts are more similar to regular farm carts or the Escort Wagon. I just figure someone in PA would try to bring Conestogas back at some point. I also had the information for them since the Army Transportation Museum has one as an example of Revolutionary War transport.

Oxen will pull around their own body weight at a speed of roughly 2 miles per hour for about 5 hours per day. A draft horse pulls basically the same amount, but for up to 8 hours, and is slightly faster at around 3 miles per hour. So an ox cart will cover about 10 miles per day in one period of travel, while a horse cart will be around 24 miles per day in two periods of travel. However, the horses are less sturdy and require more care, and most of them will be slightly smaller than an ox (although Shires are right up there with cattle in size).

[StainlessSteelCynic]

@ therantingsavant
Are you considering looking into other pack animals? Depending on the location there could be camels, llamas, alpacas, goats and so on (and even elephants). I know yak and water buffalo have been used as pack animals but they're probably similar enough to oxen for the sake of the rules.

As for draft animals, dogs have been mentioned but there could also be camels, goats and apparently llamas have also been used as harness animals.

Other than that, I've nothing to actually contribute to the discussion but just wanted to say thanks to both of you (savant & Vespers) for all the great information.

[Olefin]

Very much in line with the 1st Kenyan Mounted Cavalry Regiment that is in my East Africa Kenya source book - i.e. they fight as dragoons using the horses for transportation and then dismount and fight as infantry - i.e

Tactics

The Regiment fights as dragoons, using the horses for transport but not taking them into battle if it can be helped. On at least three occasions, due to ambushes, they have been forced to fight from horseback, with serious losses in horses and men each time. When in combat, one man from each six is tasked to handle the horses while the rest deploy to fight.

Usually the Regiment deploys without the heavy weapons squadron for patrols, only using that for missions where the heavier firepower will be needed, as the caissons slow them down and have broken down in rough terrain before.

[therantingsavant]

@Cynic - I haven't looked at other staff animals as was concentrating on the Polish setting but yes take and water buffalo are similar enough to oxen when I've researched them for other RPGs sure.

Camels are very different.

Still have to think about hounds both as companion animals and also for pack purposes, not so sure about sleds.

Need to check the Kenyan sourcebook.

Thanks for the feedback.


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[Vespers War]

Sleds are mentioned in Bear's Den, but either there weren't rules or I didn't like them, because I don't have any notes about the rules.

[Olefin]

Originally Posted by therantingsavant

@Cynic - I haven't looked at other staff animals as was concentrating on the Polish setting but yes take and water buffalo are similar enough to oxen when I've researched them for other RPGs sure.

Camels are very different.

Still have to think about hounds both as companion animals and also for pack purposes, not so sure about sleds.

Need to check the Kenyan sourcebook.

Thanks for the feedback.


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Here you go - from the sourcebook that was published two years ago

1st Kenyan Mounted Cavalry Regiment - Lodwar
· Manpower: 210 men
· Artillery: two 81mm mortars

The Regiment was organized in 1998, starting with a cadre of fifty horsemen and two hundred horses that had been used previously for horse safari tours, organized by a retired veteran of the Household Mounted Cavalry Regiment of the British Army who immigrated to Kenya in 1988 after twenty years’ service. Its personnel are all trained horsemen and women, drawn mostly from the white population of Kenya who owned most of the horses in the country pre-war.

The regiment consists of a headquarters squadron, three cavalry squadrons, and a horse drawn heavy weapons squadron. It is modeled on the British Household Cavalry Mounted Regiment, with each cavalry squadron, at full strength, consisting of two divisions, each of one officer and twenty four enlisted personnel, while the headquarters squadron consists of only one division. In addition, it is supported by a training squadron of one officer and thirty six enlisted men.

The HQ and Cavalry squadrons of the Regiment are armed with 9mm Browning pistols and G3 rifles, while the heavy weapons squadron is armed with the Sterling MkIV instead of the G3. In addition, each cavalry division has a Bren light machine gun (instead of the G3) and two M79 grenade launchers. The heavy weapons squadron has two M2HB machine guns, two 81mm mortars and two RPG-7 launchers with three missiles each. The Regiment fights as dragoons, using the horses for transport only.

[therantingsavant]

Originally Posted by Vespers War

Sleds are mentioned in Bear's Den, but either there weren't rules or I didn't like them, because I don't have any notes about the rules.

Page 32 yes - I'll post the screenshot when I get a chance to edit this post from my laptop but essentially - 7 dogs, on driver + 90kg load and 20km/he.

[therantingsavant]

Thanks Olefin - that makes sense. Presumably the mortars and MGs are packed on the horses rather than drawn on caissons / limbers like large bore artillery?


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[therantingsavant]

Thanks Olefin - that makes sense. Presumably the mortars and MGs are packed on the horses rather than drawn on caissons / limbers like large bore artillery?


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[Olefin]

The heavy weapons squadron has caissons/wagons for the mortars and M2HB machine guns. They can also carry them on horses if need be but with less ammo for the guns and the mortars if they do so, so you get a trade off of more maneuverability for less ammo if you get into a major fight.

[therantingsavant]

Ok that tradeoff makes sense I was thinking of the mobility aspect for cantonment based units with capacity for storage - particularly the Soviet 96th Cavalry Division based out of Torun which is part of some of the "North of Kalisz / Lower Vistula" gazetteer material I'm working on. I was picturing highly mobile scouts that could deploy the occasional heavy weapon as dragoons.

But I can see that units travelling overland to a destination eg the remnants of the 89th Cavalry Division returning to their homeland would find caissons and limbers an advantage for the extra ammo capacity and they'd need carts/wagons for the extra feed as well if constantly on the move.





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[therantingsavant]

Double post

[therantingsavant]

Modern horse armory?

https://goo.gl/images/SFWCFz


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[StainlessSteelCynic]

Originally Posted by therantingsavant

Modern horse armory?

https://goo.gl/images/SFWCFz


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I believe that that armour is specifically slash-resistant/stab-resistant panels because a favourite trick of some rioters has been to slash the tendons on the legs of the horse or cut its throat.
However in this day and age it would not surprise me if they're also giving ballistic protection to their mounts.

[therantingsavant]

This was interesting also in terms.of constructing armory using modern materials and methods (includes prior link also):

https://www.quora.com/Hypothetical-S...mal-physiology



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[rcaf_777]

Just wonder how long does it take to teach someone to ride a horse?

[Olefin]

Comes down to what you are trying to teach them to do

Riding a horse as in just riding it from point A to point B with no other distractions?

Or riding a horse in combat conditions and being able to control it while there are bullets and artillery shells going off?

Same with the horse itself - i.e. there are horses you can ride, horses that can pull a wagon and horses that can be ridden into combat and not freak out

To learn to ride a horse on trails usually takes the average person about a week to two weeks if they are doing it several hours per day. Now keep in mind that would be a person who had never ridden a horse before with a well broken in horse. Now if its a total neophyte on a barely broken in horse it would take a lot more.

One thing to keep in mind for all cavalry formations is if they took people who already knew how to ride and who may have even brought their own horses - i.e. the Kenyan Cavalry unit was created by people who were lifetime riders using their own horses starting with a few people who had military training

There are countries where raising a cavalry unit due to how many people still ride would easier - i.e. Russia, Ethiopia, the US, China, England, Poland for instance come to mind - the question is are the cavalry units in the Army guides composed of neophytes who had to be taught to ride or did they comb every unit in the area to find people who knew how to ride horses and "trade" for them - i.e. here you can have these 200 guys who dont know how to ride in exchange for those 100 guys you have who do?

[Raellus]

Originally Posted by Olefin

To learn to ride a horse on trails usually takes the average person about a week to two weeks if they are doing it several hours per day. Now keep in mind that would be a person who had never ridden a horse before with a well broken in horse.

If the horse is well broken in, you can learn and apply the basics of horsemanship a lot more quickly than that. After a five minute orientation, my kids (12 and 9 at the time), who had never ridden before, were riding just fine. After about an hour on the trail, they were confident enough to try galloping. I hadn't ridden a horse since I was in grade school, 30 years or so ago, and I had no problem controlling my mount. There is a caveat, though- this was on a trail with experienced riders/guides.

I would say, for dragoons, a couple of weeks of intensive training would do the trick. Riding probably wouldn't even take up majority of the cycle. Most of that time would be devoted to care and maintenance of the horses and tackle.

It would be really helpful to have a cadre of experienced riders to assist with training and whatnot, but as long as broken-in mounts are available, raising dragoon units from completely inexperienced city slickers wouldn't be that difficult, or even particularly time-consuming. Like I said, assuming they'd already had basic, in a pinch, said prospective dragoons could be up and ready to go a couple of weeks. The salient factor is the availability of ready riding horses and suitable tackle. That's the main limiter.

[Olefin]

I would say Raellus that also depends on what kind of country you are riding thru as well - i.e. its one thing to ride horses over open relatively level ground - its another to ride over rough broken terrain or thru forests where you have to be able to maneuver them

and also are they dragoons, cavalry or lancers - dragoons are basically using the horses as transport and nothing more, cavalry are going into combat with the horses (both mounted and unmounted), while lancers are using the horse the old fashioned way - to put a hell of a lot of speed and force behind the lance you are putting right thru the unlucky chest of the people you are fighting

one thing the canon really didnt make clear is with the units that switched to cavalry (except in Silesia which clearly showed them armed with lances) what they were as to type of mounted forces

[therantingsavant]

Originally Posted by Raellus

It would be really helpful to have a cadre of experienced riders to assist with training and whatnot, but as long as broken-in mounts are available, raising dragoon units from completely inexperienced city slickers wouldn't be that difficult, or even particularly time-consuming. Like I said, assuming they'd already had basic, in a pinch, said prospective dragoons could be up and ready to go a couple of weeks. The salient factor is the availability of ready riding horses and suitable tackle. That's the main limiter.

RAW, T2k v2.2 p138-139 Skill Improvement "Instruction" suggests:

Instruction: A character may be taught a skill. Teaching a skill is Difficult: Instruction. The instructor may teach a number of students
equal to his Instruction skill level and must have a skill level in the skill being taught. An instructor cannot teach a student whose skill level in the subject taught is equal to or greater than that of the instructor. The task takes one period per day for one week (seven consecutive days). Successful completion of the task (rolled for at the end of the week) results in experience points for both the students and the instructor. The instructor gains experience
for accomplishing a task as explained in the experience rules. Students gain a number of experience points (in the skill being taught) based on the number of students being taught.

If the number of students is less than half of the instructor's skill level, each student gains three experience points. If the number of students is half or more of the instructor's skill level, each student gains one experience
point.

New Skills: A character with no level in a particular skill (as differentiated from level 0 in a skill) may attempt to learn the skill. This may be done either through observation (in which case the level gained is 0) or through instruction (in which case the skill level gained is 1 ). In either case, the experience point cost will be 1.

So this implies that a cavalry officer with Instruction 2+ (CHR) and a basic Horsemanship (CON) skill could teach a group of infantrymen with no experience with horses all Horsemanship 2 in about 3-4 weeks.

So I'd think in-game, the limiting factor is the horses and tack.

[Legbreaker]

Worth bearing in mind that even somebody with no skill can sit on a horse and generally get it to go in the right direction. That's represented in 2.x as defaulting back to the controlling attribute.
Actually having some skill represents being able to do more than just sit there. Being able to do it well, takes a hell of a lot longer than a few weeks too!
My sister is 41 and has been riding competitively since she was about 6 years old. She's STILL taking lessons twice a week even though she's of olympic skill level.

A lot of it comes down to the horse though. A well trained horse with the right temperament in T2K would be worth more than it's weight in gold. A poorly trained horse, or one with an "attitude" is worth little more than the meals it can provide.

[Olefin]

Originally Posted by Legbreaker

A lot of it comes down to the horse though. A well trained horse with the right temperament in T2K would be worth more than it's weight in gold. A poorly trained horse, or one with an "attitude" is worth little more than the meals it can provide.

AMEN - have seen this for myself - used to live in farm country and there were horses that anyone could get on ride and there were "If I were you I would choose another horse" kind of horses - usually followed by I told you so statements after you got picked off the ground

[Raellus]

Originally Posted by Olefin

I would say Raellus that also depends on what kind of country you are riding thru as well - i.e. its one thing to ride horses over open relatively level ground - its another to ride over rough broken terrain or thru forests where you have to be able to maneuver them

Fair point, but my kids rode their first trail in Flagstaff, Arizona, in a forest, with lots of loose lava rock littering the ground, and plenty of elevation changes- i.e. broken terrain/forest. And they did fine with only a 5-minute orientation.

[Raellus]

Have any of you ever sat through all of making-of features of the Lord Of the Rings trilogy? (I think it's from the The Two Towers bonus content) There's an interesting bit about assembling the "Rohirrim" for the shoot that could provide some insight into this topic. The production company put out an all-call for experienced riders to serve as extras in the film. A couple hundred Kiwis answered the call. They were set up with costumes and props and the rest is celluloid history. I can see a similar thing happening in T2K, but with real, modern weapons instead of rubber medieval ones.

Anyway, in a T2K scenario, cavalry units would be raised in a couple of ways. First, all-volunteer units like Olefin's Kenyan example. Second, levies with requisitioned horses.

I can see some, more independent-minded horse owners balking at turning their prized horseflesh over to the government/military, and you might see anti-gov't mounted partisan groups forming as a result. Think about someone like Cliven Bundy and his ilk in the U.S.A.

[Olefin]

Originally Posted by Raellus

Have any of you ever sat through all of making-of features of the Lord Of the Rings trilogy? (I think it's from the The Two Towers bonus content) There's an interesting bit about assembling the "Rohirrim" for the shoot that could provide some insight into this topic. The production company put out an all-call for experienced riders to serve as extras in the film. A couple hundred Kiwis answered the call. They were set up with costumes and props and the rest is celluloid history. I can see a similar thing happening in T2K, but with real, modern weapons instead of rubber medieval ones.

Anyway, in a T2K scenario, cavalry units would be raised in a couple of ways. First, all-volunteer units like Olefin's Kenyan example. Second, levies with requisitioned horses.

I can see some, more independent-minded horse owners balking at turning their prized horseflesh over to the government/military, and you might see anti-gov't mounted partisan groups forming as a result. Think about someone like Cliven Bundy and his ilk in the U.S.A.

I completely agree with you there about some people being pretty testy if they get ordered to turn over their horses and deciding they were going to do something about it. Especially if it means they are losing their only means of transportation in the bargain. And I can see people who love horses seeing them getting mistreated by some converted infantryman and not being very happy about it.

[rcaf_777]

in bicycle vs horse calvary, bicycles win hands done you only have one (rider) vs two (rider and animal)

[Raellus]

Originally Posted by rcaf_777

in bicycle vs horse calvary, bicycles win hands done you only have one (rider) vs two (rider and animal)

Good point, but bicycles are pretty much road-bound whereas horses are not. Advantage horse-cav.