EQUIPMENT

Although some basic equipment is included in the various Phoenix Command rulebooks and supplements, these focus mainly on weapons, and virtually ignore some other areas of equipment which are nonetheless very common on the battlefield. This is a strange deficiency in a game that is so obviously set on detailed coverage of what is going on.

This page has a number of tables showing the weights of various items of personal equipment used by soldiers and/or civilians. Where possible, these have been determined by weighing the actual items (from the author's collection of military equipment) — which is also the reason why the tables are far from complete — or taken from reputable sources.

For data on helmets and other types of personal armor, see the Body Armor page.

Please note that all weights are empty weights. A 7.62 mm NATO ammo can weighs 3.9 pounds without the 220-round belt it can take, for example.

On some of the tables, Target Size ALMs are shown for the items as well as their weights. These are used when a shot is aimed specifically at the item; for example, shooting an ALICE butt pack has a Target Size ALM of +1. Remember that, depending on the direction the shot is coming from, it may strike the user/wearer of the item being fired at.

Equipment used by soldiers in battle has a tendency to get wet for a variety of reasons — rain, wading, crawling through puddles, and so on.

Canvas or cotton equipment absorbs 40% of its own weight in water, while nylon or polyester equipment absorbs only 8% of its own weight; the item's weight increases accordingly. (Equipment made from metal or plastic does not absorb any water.) This means that a cotton item that is thoroughly soaked, weighs 40% more than it does dry; for example, a combat jacket that weighs 1.5 pounds dry, weighs 1.5 × 140% = 2.1 pounds when it is soaked.

Note that any item classified as water-repellent does not absorb any water, and so does not increase in weight when it gets wet. Items marked as rain-tight will not absorb water when it is raining moderately, but can be soaked through other means, like being submerged or being subjected to heavy downpours or prolonged periods of rain.

The equipment data tables below indicate what materials each item is made of for this purpose. Some may be made from mixtures of different materials, in which case the percentages are shown, and the weight increase should be modified accordingly. A 50% nylon, 50% cotton combat jacket will absorb 24% water: half of each of the basic percentages of its materials.

The Phoenix Command rules give a flat weight of 5.0 lbs. for clothing, which is somewhat unrealistic. The table below has weights for both military and civilian items of clothing.

All-purpose Lightweight Individual Carrying Equipment (United States)

ALICE for short, this gear has been used by the United States military since the mid-1970s, and was partially replaced by newer equipment in the late 1980s and early '90s. It is entirely made of nylon (with metal and plastic buckles) unless otherwise indicated.

ALICE equipment is fully interchangeable with the earlier M1956 and M1967 American load-carrying equipment, and to varying degrees also with M1910 and later gear.

A typical ALICE set-up of the late 1970s consists of a belt with suspenders, two ammunition pouches, a canteen in carrier, a compass case, an entrenching tool in carrier and a bayonet in scabbard (weights of the last two items are not available at this time, unfortunately). In the 1980s and '90s, a second canteen was added to this.

Other Load-Bearing Equipment

This category is for "one-off" items of which most of the set of corresponding LBE was not available for weighing.

This section gives weights for equipment related to firearms and other weapons.

The table below has weights for items that don't fit any of the other categories, but whose weights are handy to know anyway.