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Area of Operations

solid black lines are roads maintained by the Canadian government

dotted black line is the Canadian railway

dashed purple line is the border of the Arcadian Republic

dashed orange line is the border of the Great State of Huntingdon (aka Broad Top)

     From Sleeping Bear Dunes to either Erie, PA or the shore near Hagersville is about 1050 km. If the team hustles along at 20 knots (37 kph), from sunrise to sunset (14 hours or so), they can cover 518 kilometers ... so the trip takes two days.

CFS Carp

     The above-ground site is protected by a 2.7 meter high concrete wall, forming a square 30 meters on a side. There's a central sandbagged area, with a 10 meter tall watchtower. The watchtower has sandbagged sides and roof.

     There are two solid steel gates, one on the south side and one on the north side. Concrete barriers (mostly jersey barricades) make it difficult to ram the gates with any great speed.

     Two mobile homes flank the central sandbagged area. A water tower, radio antenna, and flagpole also rise above the defenses.

     There's not a lot of space inside for vehicles -- at most, a car can enter at each end.

Funding and Expenses

     Income obtained by team R101 up to the end of that episode:

• $1000 in gold (trade pack)

• $50 in silver dollars (trade pack)

• $75 from the Mail Boat in random coinage

• $70 from the Mail Boat in gold

• $130 reward for pirates

• $100 for Captain Deltoid's assorted jewelry

• $1000 from Captain Deltoid's random coinage

• $180 in gold from Captain Deltoid

• $80 in gold from George the pirate

• $65 in random coinage from George the pirate

• $12 reward for Captain Deltoid's re-capture

• $350 in gold, at Sudbury (will have to be recovered)

• $50 in random coinage at Sudbury (will have to be recovered)

• $500 funding from the Skinball League, in gold

• $3662 total income
  

     Expenses and payments:

• $120 for VLF antenna components
  

• $55 approximate purchases in Bastion, 7-8 July

• $31 expenses on 16 July

• $110 for Soo house and first month's rent and utilities

• $9 for a week's food and drink at Soo, @0.20 per day including a few beers and other upgrades, presuming the team does most of their own cooking

• $20 for salvage team to retrieve other equipment from the bolt hole and nearby cache

• $5 for lunch, Safe House visit and "some shopping" at Sentinel 25 July

• $7 at Haven on 29 July

• $50 to Tim Fraser on 5 August

• $20 paid to a steam tug for salvage, 8 August

• $36 for canoes, 30 July

• $4 pay for Old Pierre, the guide

• $10 roughly on purchases in Sudbury

• $52 Fairhope's expenses in EBT

• $529 total expenses
  

• $3133 funds available (but only $2733 immediately, since some is still at Sudbury)

     Presuming that all expenses have been paid "not in gold coinage", the team has $1830 in immediately available gold coinage (weight less than 3 kg), and $903 in silver dollars, quarters, dimes, nickels, etc. (these weigh about 30 kg).

     The question is thus:  how much of the money was sent off with Fairhope?

     Possible expenses to establish the training camp and begin building the army -- a regiment of 10 companies:

• boathouse/storehouse and dock:  $75

• wall tent, 5 m x 5 m, with poles, stakes, ropes, stove jack:  $50, 40 kg

• camp stove, $6, 14 kg with smokestack

• per 100 man company: $200 as follows:
  

• 100 knapsacks:  $75

• 100 cartridge belts, slings, etc. for guns:  $50

• 100 first aid packets:  $20, 14.2 kg
  

• flag, 1m x 1.66m on 3 meter pole, $2 (depending on material, colors and detail)
  

• field kitchen for 100 men, including oven and grate, two kettles, two fry pans, cleaver, dippers, carving fork, bread knife, spatula, bucket, skimmer, steel, 6 pans, 100 each cups, plates, knives and forks, and a 36 gallon lyster bag: $20, 85 kg
  

• medicine chest (basic medicines, tourniquets, bandages):  $20

• 3 stretchers:  $6

• pair of binoculars, $7

• canned food (bread, meat and sugar) for 100 men for 1 day:  $35, 68 kg

• dried or salted meat is usually fish, elk or horse; bread is dried and hard; beans, dried peas, and dried fruit are also present. Cooking dried beans takes up to nine hours (overnight).

• food to be cooked, and other daily staples like soap, for 100 men for 1 day:  $12, 90 kg

• 3/4 ton capacity wagon: $45

• cart or pack horse or mule:  about $40. Note that 14 are being loaned by the Chippewa and frontaliers
  

• A pack horse can carry about 100 kg load (beyond the pack saddle); a pack mule can carry 150 kg (in addition to the pack saddle).

   

     The recruits will bring enough of their own camp gear that the above can be said to cover a summer tent camp outfit. Keep in mind they are not nomads -- they live in established villages, though many are woodsmen, hunters, trappers, fishermen, etc. Wooden walkways, flagpoles, fencing, rifle ranges, training obstacles, etc. can be constructed from locally-available materials; some of the recruits will be carpenters and can be presumed to have basic tools with them.

     In each 100 recruits, there will be four members of the Medicine Society (a doctor and three assistants).

     A generic Ojibwe "recruit" will have clothing, a blanket, a blanket cover (usually a plastic sheet), half of a tent, a knife, a hatchet, a canteen, a mess tin (usually an old lunch box), some camping items, and one other weapon (usually a bow, sometimes a musket, rarely a muzzle-loading rifle). They are not equipped for long marches through the middle of Canada in winter ... they probably own blanket coats, etc. but won't expect to bring them unless a strong effort is made to convince them of the fun of fighting General Winter.

     However, if the Project stresses "come equipped for winter", you may well get a lot less recruits.

     While in camp for a month or two, or moving on foot through forests, the frontaliers, Chippewa and Ojibwe can forage for (say) 90% of their foodstuffs, before December. Note that a unit depending on forage can't march or travel very quickly. Thus a possible camp, presuming 1000 men for six weeks:

     Gotta raise some more money! Or steal some from the Canadian government's bunker at CFS Carp. Fairhope should be at the training camp with his weapons by 4 September or so, if everyone hustles along.

     The call for troops among the Chippewa, Ojibwe and Ottawa tribes won't reach them until about 12 August, depending on their location. It'll take a week or so for decisions to be made, and then another week to travel to Soo, plus a couple of days on some watercraft to the training camp at Sleeping Bear Dunes. Thus the bulk of the Native American volunteers won't reach the camp until late August. Arrangements for water transport should be made ... both to the camp, and (once the invasion liberation begins, up to Thunder Bay or whatever the jumping-off points are. From Cat Head Bay to Thunder Bay is 763 km (411 nautical miles) ... 41 hours at 10 knots. Cost and availability of steam or motor vessels to be determined; the team could assemble a nuclear-powered pontoon barge, also! Team Eta's LCM-8 is ashore, stripped of its two Mk I reactors, at Soo, but could be refloated; it can land 200 troops.

     Limits on boats through the Soo locks are 77 meters length, 15.4 meters beam, and 13.5 meters draft. Note the Badger is 125 meters long.

     Training will begin around September 1st; if it's six weeks, it'll be done by October 12th. If the Allied forces leave for Thunder Bay the next day, they'd arrive by the 14th. That leaves about six weeks to conquer Canada.

     Thus, the crew of the Calypso has from 13 August, to the end of August, to run around raising or stealing money, making deals and purchases, etc. More can be done after that date, until early October, but some of the Morrow Project team members will be involved in training.

     Possible weapons are discussed in the main narrative, and can also be found at the EBT Weapons page. A minimal purchase of 100 submachineguns in 9mm, 400 magazines for the guns, 10,000 rounds of 9mm ammo, 5 mortars and 5 binoculars would cost $2,685. Oddly enough, that's just a bit less than the amount the team has on hand when Fairhope was sent off to "the Shops" at East Broad Top.

     The mortars, mortar ammo, wall tents and stoves are about the only items requiring transport on pack animals, wagons or motor vehicles. The tents are mostly intended as field hospitals, but have other uses no doubt.

     330 mortar shells weigh about 1419 kg total (average 4.3 kg each). If the team sends five mortars, each with 40 shells, that will require 2 mules per mortar -- 31 shells on one mule, and the mortar and 9 shells on the other. The mortars can also be broken up into four 15 kg loads each, as man-packed weapons. Without pack animals or motor transport, it would take about 16 men to haul a mortar and 40 rounds of ammo (along with a reasonable amount of their usual gear).

     That's 200 mortar shells "in action" ... training will use up some more. Dummy/training shells for loading practice can be made at Soo or Bastion, but a certain number of live shells will need to be fired in training.

     Volunteers from among the frontaliers and the Upper Peninsula communities will be equipped better than the Chippewa, Ottawa and Ojibwe -- they will always bring at least a muzzle-loading rifle. There hasn't been any recruiting efforts in those places yet, though. The 14 men who are accompanying Fairhope to Pennsylvania will end up being more experienced with guns than the usual Chippewa or Ojibwe warriors.

     If the Highwaymen, Black Hand, Blessed Ladies, Dragons, or Sanctum can be persuaded or paid to provide troops, they'll cover their own expenses (but the Highwaymen and Black Hand may expect to be paid).

     Heather Mist knows that the Feeding Grounds has a large population, with a mix of weapons; but other groups view the residents of the ruins of Chicago with suspicion. Including the Feeding Ground in the "Allied Forces" might be tricky.

Transport

     For Operation Cook A Carp some motor vehicles will be needed, for carrying the team to CFS Carp and back to the Great Lakes. There aren't a lot of them available around the Great Lakes:

• old Morrow Vehicles from the Arcadian Republic:  bad tires, balky systems, rusty and clunky, risking your reactors
  

• steam tractors: slow as all get out

• trucks and automobiles:  expensive but probably the only choice

     A half-dozen motor vehicles are possible candidates. Trucks:

• a gasogen-powered 1950 Kenworth 825 bull-nose semi-tractor and two trailers (one 7 meter long flatbed, one 6.7 meter long Freuhauf box) and a dolly converter. Currently at Haven. The tractor has a 14 liter Cummins 350 HP diesel engine (converted to gasogen), 5 speed transmission plus a 3 speed "brownie" auxiliary transmission (underdrive, straight, and overdrive), Timken "severe duty" torsion bar suspension on the rear axles, gross combination weight was rated at 21 tons, top speed on good dirt roads:  25 kph. It's a sleeper cab, but the sleeping area is mostly taken up with gasogen equipment.

• the 1000 kilometer round trip to Carp will use 500 kg of charcoal, costing $11

• a steam-powered gun truck, with a 37mm cannon turret; created by the Team Eta group circa 2020. Slow but imposing; top speed on good dirt road:  15 kph. Currently at Soo, sort-of in the Morrow Project museum. A small amount of 21st Century ammo is available for the cannon.
  

     Not trucks:

• a gasogen-powered Miller-Meteor hearse. Can carry five people and their gear; has one spare tire. Currently at Bastion. Safe speed on good dirt road 30 kph.

• the 1000 kilometer round trip to Carp will use 275 kg of charcoal. at a cost of $6

• a methanol-powered 1955 Cadillac convertible (the Skinball League "victory parade" car). Kinda showy (it's white); has one spare tire. Currently at Lud. No cost to use, but "please don't bend it". Can carry five people and their gear; safe speed on good dirt road 30 kph.
  

• a gasogen-powered light armored car, based on a VW Combi chassis. It's bulletproof, at least, but can only carry the driver and two other people. No weapons, the passengers shoot over the sides. Currently at Sentinel; has four spare tires. Safe speed on good dirt road 30 kph.
  

• a methanol-powered 1969 Ford Falcon (Heather Mist's personal vehicle from back when she ran with the Cartel). Pretty fast for the 22nd Century; safe speed on good dirt road 50 kph. Currently at Lud. No cost to use. Can carry four people (but only the driver's seat has any padding) and their gear; has two spare tires.

• the fuel tank holds 200 liters; the 1000 kilometer round trip to Carp will use 720 liters of methanol, at a cost of $21.60

     Only the semi-tractor can carry a lot of people. It's for sale, but you can't afford it (probably well over $20,000 complete with trailers, etc.) -- but the Skinball League can post a bond for its safe return, so the cost would be just fuel and repairs.

     The team chose to use Heather's Falcon, the hearse, and the semi-tractor. Fuel and other vehicle consumables for the trip to Carp come to $40.