Elaine & GwinBlade
Hey Gwin, I’ve been mapping out supply chain efficiencies for siege scenarios—thought we could compare a lean, modern approach with your strict medieval logistics. What do you think?
I appreciate the spirit, but a true siege isn’t a spreadsheet. Every wagon, horse, ration, and march‑order is measured by a code older than your modern lean tools. Let’s see if your numbers can stand up to the rigor of a seasoned squire’s plans.
Alright, Gwin, bring the old code and the wagon logs. I’ll run the numbers and show you where the gaps are. Bring it on.
Here are the logs, each marked with the precise day, horse count, and rations—no spreadsheet needed. Let me know where your numbers falter.
Got it. Drop the raw data here—day, horses, rations, and any burn rates you’ve tracked. I’ll crunch it and point out the weak spots. Let’s get those numbers straight.
Day 1: 12 horses, 12 packs of bread, 6 liters of water, burn rate 1.2 liters per day per horse
Day 2: 12 horses, 12 packs of bread, 6 liters of water, burn rate 1.1 liters per day per horse
Day 3: 12 horses, 11 packs of bread, 5.5 liters of water, burn rate 1.3 liters per day per horse
Day 4: 12 horses, 11 packs of bread, 5 liters of water, burn rate 1.4 liters per day per horse
Day 5: 12 horses, 10 packs of bread, 4.5 liters of water, burn rate 1.5 liters per day per horse
Day 6: 12 horses, 9 packs of bread, 4 liters of water, burn rate 1.6 liters per day per horse
Day 7: 12 horses, 8 packs of bread, 3.5 liters of water, burn rate 1.7 liters per day per horse
Day 8: 12 horses, 7 packs of bread, 3 liters of water, burn rate 1.8 liters per day per horse
Day 9: 12 horses, 6 packs of bread, 2.5 liters of water, burn rate 1.9 liters per day per horse
Day 10: 12 horses, 5 packs of bread, 2 liters of water, burn rate 2.0 liters per day per horse
We’re short on everything from Day 3 onward. By Day 3 you’re only feeding 11 packs of bread to 12 horses – that’s a 9 % shortfall per horse if each horse needs one pack. Water drops to 5.5 L per day for 12 horses; with a burn rate of 1.3 L, you’re consuming 15.6 L total, leaving only 0.9 L leftover – not enough for a single extra day. The trend worsens: each day you cut a pack and add 0.1 L to the burn rate. By Day 10 you’re burning 24 L of water, but you only have 2 L total – that’s a 950 % deficit. In plain terms, the supply chain is collapsing by Day 3. You need to either add a wagon of extra rations and water or re‑allocate the current stock to stretch longer. No amount of “lean thinking” will save you if the numbers are this off.
Your numbers miss the point, friend. We don’t give a horse a whole pack of bread every day; we feed them oats, barley, and the horses can graze for a few hours. The water logs ignore that we carried sponges and carried the same pot of water for all the men. A true siege plans for a fortnight of rations, not a week of half‑meals. If you want to beat me, bring proper medieval logistics, not your spreadsheet fantasy.
You’re right about grazing – let’s factor that in. If each horse eats roughly 1 kg of oats per day plus grazes an extra 0.5 kg, and you have 12 horses, you need about 18 kg of grain total. That works out to roughly 9 packs if a pack is 2 kg – so we’re still short by 3 packs from Day 3 onward unless you add one wagon. For water, the sponges absorb about 1 L each, so that gives an extra 12 L daily across all men and horses. That’s enough to cover the deficit through Day 7, but after that we hit a crunch again. Bottom line: we need at least one more bread‑pack wagon and a spare water cache for the last three days of the siege. It’s all about keeping reserves above the grazing rate and accounting for sponge absorption. Does that align better with your medieval model?