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Made in fi
Roaring Reaver Rider




My personal secret lair

I have an army project for my guard and the organisation of my units heavily leans on the fluff. Infantry units from an infantry regiment, tanks from an armored regiment and so on. So this got me wondering is there anything anywhere mentioned about how the logistics for the guard works on the ground? Transporting supplies, ammo, rations or whatever and storing them. Is the navy used for transporting goods? Are there gound vehicles for that purpose? Are there warehouses on planets? Are there logistics units? How does it all work?

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Hollowman wrote:

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Made in gb
Preparing the Invasion of Terra






Logistics is handled by the Departmento Munitorum. They make sure the ammo, equipment, food and water are ready for any action taken by the AM.
The Regiments themselves are transported by the Navy in hauler ships or cargo decks and most equipment will be transported alongside them with access being granted just before an engagement.
Valkyries, Chimeras, Taurox, generic cargo trucks and many other vehicles are used to transport supplies on the ground.
   
Made in us
Automated Rubric Marine of Tzeentch




dorset

like Gert said, a lot of what would be uniformed support troops in a M03 army are are Departmento Munitorum labourers in M41. still effectivley under military jurisdiction by IRL standards, but technically a seperate branch of the Imperium in 40K. this is deliberate and part of the division of power to curtail rebellions. troops cant rebel as effectively because their supplies are controlled by another organisation, etc.

it works about as well as any other part of the imperium: it lurches form crisis to crisis, relying on sheer mass inertia to keep everything going. local minitorum bosses are semi-independant, given the problems with interstellar communication, and can only vaguely co-operate. most planets either produce most things locally (ie flak armou, lasguns, etc. the simplicity of which is a reason they are so common) or rely on extremely long standing aggreements and generous local supply dumps if they have to import stuff.


however, logistics is BORING, so most lore writers just skip right over it.

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Made in au
Longtime Dakkanaut




 Gert wrote:
Logistics is handled by the Departmento Munitorum. They make sure the ammo, equipment, food and water are ready for any action taken by the AM.
The Regiments themselves are transported by the Navy in hauler ships or cargo decks and most equipment will be transported alongside them with access being granted just before an engagement.
Valkyries, Chimeras, Taurox, generic cargo trucks and many other vehicles are used to transport supplies on the ground.


We cannot forget the humble "universal carrier of 40k" the Centaur. The universal carrier was the most mass produced AFV in the world, built by 5 different countries and used in every possible way imaginable. I could only imagine the many millions or possibly billions used across the Imperium. It's such a simple design that any planet that could make a tractor could make one of them as well.
   
Made in us
Regular Dakkanaut






The Trojan gets a mention here and is actually playable
https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-US/Trojan-Support-Vehicle-Complete-Kit

The Trojan is a workhorse used by Imperial Guard armoured regiments as a towing vehicle for artillery platforms and as an armoured ammunition carrier, ferrying extra ammunition to the platforms once in position. Each Trojan is equipped with a crane to lift heavy crates of ammunition from it’s hold.


Also the Crassus Armored Transport would likely see use moving supplies by ground where the speed of the valkyrie wasn't needed.

https://www.forgeworld.co.uk/en-US/Crassus-Armoured-Assault-Transport-2018
This immense armoured carrier is named after one of Lord Solar Macharius’ greatest generals, Borgen Crassus, who remained steadfastly loyal to the Imperium throughout the grim and bloody Macharian Heresy that followed the Lord Solar’s death. The vehicle can be retrofitted with additional weapons to fulfill other battlefield roles as required, and thousands of these vast transports were drafted into the 6th Cadian Armoured’s ranks during the fighting on Betalis III.



   
Made in us
Fresh-Faced New User





In a modern army there's a slang term "tooth-to-tail" which is the ratio of active fighters to support personnel.

It's about 1 fighter per 2.5 support. It's been increasing as wars have become more complex and further away. So maybe in 40K it ends up being 1 per 5 or 6.

However, in most militaries those 'tails' are still soldiers. You can order one to grab a box of ammo and run it to fighters actively fighting. That's not something you could get a civilian contractor to do. And it's not just '2nd ring' support that's soldiers. You've got military personnel at the man base who drive forklifts all day loading trucks, or just does laundry.

Well in 40K the Imperial Guard do one thing - pull triggers. All the people who support them (the "tail" in modern military parlance) are actually administrators (Departmento Munitoroim). And depending on rank/position, most of them are just as disposable as a guarsmen. Loose 10,000 guardsmen to a big frontal assault? Not really a big deal. Loose 5,000 low ranking admins who were doing such things as carrying ammo, shuttling fuel, serving grub, shoring up trenchs, carrying wounded back - same thing, easy to replace.

Now, it's possible that the '2nd ring' support personnel - the guys in trucks hauling supplies to the front lines, or pulling damaged vehicles back from the front line, and the guys dodging bullets to carry back wounded infantrymen - support personnel who probably carry guns or use vehicles that mount guns even if they aren't really intended for direct contact - they might be Guardsmen. Exactly where the division between a fighter (and therefore Guardsman) and Logistics (and therefore administarium) isn't carefully defined.
   
Made in ca
Commander of the Mysterious 2nd Legion





 akodo1 wrote:
In a modern army there's a slang term "tooth-to-tail" which is the ratio of active fighters to support personnel.

It's about 1 fighter per 2.5 support. It's been increasing as wars have become more complex and further away. So maybe in 40K it ends up being 1 per 5 or 6.

However, in most militaries those 'tails' are still soldiers. You can order one to grab a box of ammo and run it to fighters actively fighting. That's not something you could get a civilian contractor to do. And it's not just '2nd ring' support that's soldiers. You've got military personnel at the man base who drive forklifts all day loading trucks, or just does laundry.

Well in 40K the Imperial Guard do one thing - pull triggers. All the people who support them (the "tail" in modern military parlance) are actually administrators (Departmento Munitoroim). And depending on rank/position, most of them are just as disposable as a guarsmen. Loose 10,000 guardsmen to a big frontal assault? Not really a big deal. Loose 5,000 low ranking admins who were doing such things as carrying ammo, shuttling fuel, serving grub, shoring up trenchs, carrying wounded back - same thing, easy to replace.

Now, it's possible that the '2nd ring' support personnel - the guys in trucks hauling supplies to the front lines, or pulling damaged vehicles back from the front line, and the guys dodging bullets to carry back wounded infantrymen - support personnel who probably carry guns or use vehicles that mount guns even if they aren't really intended for direct contact - they might be Guardsmen. Exactly where the division between a fighter (and therefore Guardsman) and Logistics (and therefore administarium) isn't carefully defined.


keep in mind that in some ways logistics have gotten EASIER to manage in 40k for the guard. the Lasgun is a Logiscians DREAM

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Made in us
Revving Ravenwing Biker




New York City

I'd imagine for most infantry regiments, any heavy weapons, ammunition, munitions, medical supplies, extra clothing, armor, and consumables would be carried by additional Chimera Transports.

Transporting anything the IG needs from orbit to planet side, the Navy utilizes Arvus Light Haulers, Aquila Landers for ferrying soldiers, and dropships for ferrying large and heavy ground vehicles, like tanks, heavy tanks, and super heavy tanks.

I've wanted to make a model for the Devourer dropship for years now, but other than one or two pictures, there's not much information about them. Anyone ever seen a Studio Ghibli film called Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind? The transport/gunships in that film are what I always imagined a dropship from the Imperial Navy to look like. An oversized diesel-punky C-130.

https://studioghiblimovies.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/09-k8i40oU.png

This message was edited 5 times. Last update was at 2021/06/20 16:11:58


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Made in gb
Leader of the Sept







TheValkyrie transporter and munitorum containers would also contribute I’m sure.

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Made in us
Ship's Officer





Dallas, TX

If you could find FW Taros campaign, either version is fine as the fluff remain unchanged; there is a great deal concerning logistics, lots of models used for logistics as well. The likes of Arvus Lighter, Trojan, Centaur, Sentinel Powerlifter, Sabre Defense platform(LC, AC, quad stubber, HB, searchlight), Valkyrie Sky Talon, Atlas, Tallarn Mukaali etc.

You can easily convert your own logistic vehicles, from the likes of GSC rockgrinder, Admech Skorpius Dunerider, Chimera without the top panel and add some plasticard plating to make it more Salamander like. 3rd party armor cars, WW II halftracks.
   
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Longtime Dakkanaut




Ground logistics is simplified due to the apparent ability for Imperial vehicles like the Leman Russ to run on anything vaguely combustible and the lasguns and lascannons running on rechargeable power packs.

The real bottleneck and vulnerable area of the Imperium seems to be rather interstellar logistics. The limiting factor seems to be the number of interstellar transports and the escorts to protect them. In the Taros campaign, we see how that weakness led to the ultimate failure of the Imperial campaign.
   
Made in ca
Secretive Dark Angels Veteran



Canada

I think they use Mail Order?

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