Mass Combat Help Please!

[Jon F. Zeigler]

Bicycle-mounted infantry show up in one of the Falkenberg's Legion stories too, as a way to temporarily get extra mobility. Pournelle was probably borrowing from some real-history incident there.

[Collective_Restraint]

Originally Posted by Jon F. Zeigler

Bicycle-mounted infantry show up in one of the Falkenberg's Legion stories too, as a way to temporarily get extra mobility. Pournelle was probably borrowing from some real-history incident there.

A fine example of bycicle-mounted infantry...

Sorry, it was too tempting to pass up.

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by Collective_Restraint

A fine example of bycicle-mounted infantry...

Sorry, it was too tempting to pass up.

That would be bicycle cavalry, given that they fight mounted and do not just use the bicycles for transport.

[Collective_Restraint]

Originally Posted by Icelander

That would be bicycle cavalry, given that they fight mounted and do not just use the bicycles for transport.

Ooops my bad :) It's in moments like this that it shows that english is not my first language. :)

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by ronom

Even in the mid-twentieth century bike were used as transport by the insurgents in Vietnam.

And other insurgents, for sure. As for uniformed troops, the Swiss were training bicycle infantry until 2001. Wikipedia has an entry.

[Der Wanderer]

Well, rickshaw bikes have 3 wheels (more stability), with one being the motor/pilot and the other could function as gunner. However, with only one powering the vehicle it would be rather slow. Better to use a tandem like this.

[Der Wanderer]

Or add a lot of spikes to this

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by mlangsdorf

I think you mean "dragoon".

Or "mounted infantry"

[Kromm]

I'd call bicycle infantry Mounted Rifles (p. 21). Bicycles are different from beasts, but the net effect is the same: You can carry more and move faster, but you need more logistic support. Comparing MR to ordinary Riflemen:

† Mounted Rifles get Mounted mobility to the Riflemen's Foot mobility. This is a +50% speed increase, giving +1 in the Reconnaissance Contest. Nothing else changes here, so bike troops will win the Contest more often than they lose. They will most often have the initiative, which lets them make the battle a pitched battle and thus claim a Defense Bonus, most often +1.

† Looking at the TS differences between Mounted Rifles and Riflemen, we're dropping from TS 40 for Riflemen to TS 20 for MR, but picking up Cavalry capability that can provide superiority (via flanking, in this case). In a head-to-head conflict between one element of each, the Riflemen would get +4 for 2:1 relative TS. The MR would get +3 for 5:1 or better Cavalry Superiority, and +1 for DB, or alternatively, for selecting Mobile Defense or Raid to get an extra +1 from Cavalry Superiority. Each side has +4, making them an even match despite the TS difference.

† Looking at the cost differences between Mounted Rifles and Riflemen, we're talking about (100K - 60K)/10 = $4,000 per man to raise and (20K - 12K)/10 = $800 per man to maintain. Interestingly, the Swiss phased out such units in part because of the high cost of the bikes, which are being sold for $1,000 as surplus.

[balzacq]

Originally Posted by Kromm

I'd call bicycle infantry Mounted Rifles (p. 21). Bicycles are different from beasts, but the net effect is the same: You can carry more and move faster, but you need more logistic support. Comparing MR to ordinary Riflemen:
...
† Looking at the cost differences between Mounted Rifles and Riflemen, we're talking about (100K - 60K)/10 = $4,000 per man to raise and (20K - 12K)/10 = $800 per man to maintain. Interestingly, the Swiss phased out such units in part because of the high cost of the bikes, which are being sold for $1,000 as surplus.

Interesting. Horses are also extremely expensive (at least nowadays when there are a whole lot fewer of them), and require large amounts of fodder to be militarily useful. I'd think that bicycles would require a lot less logistical support, since they don't eat anything and are mostly field-maintainable (a truck full of tools, parts, and spare tires will sustain a whole lot of bikes for a long time).

I'd reflect this as keeping or only slightly increasing the Raise cost while reducing the Maintain cost for Mounted Riflemen (Bicycle).