Cavalry in T2K

[stormlion1]

Troops shooting from the back of horses are not going to be very accurate no matter what the old westerns show. Just wait a lot of ammunition really so the best use of Horse Calvary is to ride them to the destination, dismount and leave one man holding the reigns of four of five horses and send the rest forward in a line. That way the horses don't get spooked by gunfire, the horses are both protected and available, and any pack horses will be nearby carrying additional ammunition. The interesting thing will be the entire process being reinvented by survivors and people with little real knowledge of horses and horse warfare.
Making a wagon for supply's is easy to say, but actually making one will be much harder and the option of cheating by using a cut down truckbed or some such will be a option. But that's all heavy metal there and horses will quickly tire out requiring longer breaks than normal. Building a wooden wagon is an option, if one has blueprints or better yet an example to copy but unless you have power tools that's a long drawn out process. Just curing the lumber will take time!

[Raellus]

Apache6, I really like your all female 2nd Tennessee Cavalry Regiment idea.

I also like your adventure idea- good ol' fashioned horse rustlin' = good times.

As for wagon design, wood is lighter, but the value of wood as a construction material and fuel source would increase after the TDM. A cut-down truck bed would work almost just as well. Depending on the truck, it wouldn't really be that much heavier than sturdy wood construction, once all the unnecessary bits and pieces were removed. More likely would be a hybrid wagon using a cut-down truck chassis with a wooden frame. When I lived in Uruguay back in the early '90s, there were lots of these ad hoc horse or mule-drawn wagons- the drivers would do freelance garbage collection.



On my bike ride today, I passed a father and daughter on horseback. In some parts of the U.S., horse ownership is pretty common. My town of Marana (basically a large, unincorporated suburb of Tucson) just announced the construction of a $13,000,000 rodeo grounds. In my old, more rural neighborhood, half the people on my block owned at least one horse.

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[CDAT]

Originally Posted by Raellus

Apache6, I really like your all female 2nd Tennessee Cavalry Regiment idea.

I also like your adventure idea- good ol' fashioned horse rustlin' = good times.

As for wagon design, wood is lighter, but the value of wood as a construction material and fuel source would increase after the TDM. A cut-down truck bed would work almost just as well. Depending on the truck, it wouldn't really be that much heavier than sturdy wood construction, once all the unnecessary bits and pieces were removed. More likely would be a hybrid wagon using a cut-down truck chassis with a wooden frame. When I lived in Uruguay back in the early '90s, there were lots of these ad hoc horse or mule-drawn wagons- the drivers would do freelance garbage collection.



On my bike ride today, I passed a father and daughter on horseback. In some parts of the U.S., horse ownership is pretty common. My town of Marana (basically a large, unincorporated suburb of Tucson) just announced the construction of a $13,000,000 rodeo grounds. In my old, more rural neighborhood, half the people on my block owned at least one horse.

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I wish I had a photo of it, but I saw a bunch of vans that had there front window knocked out and were made in to horse (donkey) carts in Iraq.

[Canadian Army]

How about this for heavy weapons support:


A corporal aims a Colt M1895 atop a Sri Lankan Elephant.

[mikeo80]

OMG.....Canadian Army, that is just too freaking funny....

You DID forget a spew warning....

My $0.02

Mike

[stormlion1]

Hit a few Circus's and Zoo's up. Add a little Kevlar in vital spots and maybe even some real armor in others and, yep you a have a Armored Elephant to scare the masses with. That is until you pull the trigger and find yourself just trying to stay on!

[Gelrir]

From FM 2-5, dated 1944:

The LMG squad is 8 men, with two gun crews. Each crew has three men, with four horses: three ridden, and one pack horse with gun, tripod, and ammo. Outside of the two crews are the squad leader and another pack horse driver, leading a pack horse with more ammunition. Thus: 8 men, 11 horses.

The .50 cal MG squad has 8 men, 8 riding horses, 3 pack horses, but only one gun and ammo. The #1 horse carries the gun, tripod, and 40 rounds of ammo; the #2 and #3 horses carry the rest of the ammo.

The 81mm mortar squad has 8 men, 8 riding horses, 3 pack horses. The #1 pack horse carries the mortar; #2 and #3 pack horse each have 12 mortar shells (18 shells each for short, slow moves).

A machine-gun platoon was an HQ (8 men), two LMG sections (two squads and a sergeant), a .50 cal MG section (two squads and a sergeant). 54 horses total.

An 81mm mortar platoon ws an HQ (9 men), and two mortar sections (each is two squads and a sergeant).

--
Michael b.