Artillery Effects in SOW

[Hancock the Superb]

I would have to agree with C, artillerists are underrepresented and undercredited. The Union Regular Army especially (along with the Washington LA Artillery) were very high quality units, well trained and just about as good as they can get, even in 1861.

[BOSTON]

Chonaman wrote:

Kerflumoxed wrote:

Many years ago when I was heavily involved in CW Living History, had a couple of opportunities to observe and/or participate in live firing including both rifles (3 Inch Ordnance) and a six pound smoothbore. The crew on the rifle was amazing! They put 4 successive rounds in a 2 foot square at over 200 yards. It was possible to watch the round exit the gun, move downrange and then impact the target.

The smoothbore crew I served on was in a competition that was held at Fort Sill, OK. The most exciting part was firing canister at about 150 yards! What a sound they made.

I've seen video of live firing for many of the guns used, and they appear to be extremely accurate, so that is one reason I've hoped we'd see a reflection of that accuracy (and damage thereto) reflected in the new game (if it is born out historically, especially).

I think there has been much misinformation regarding the effect of artillery on casualties in the civil war. Artillerists of the day seem to have been shortchanged, in my view, in terms of the credit deserved for their deadly work.

That was a pretty neat window under "extremly accurate".

[Hancock the Superb]

Yes, it was. It would be a little more difficult to fire it with shrapnel (timing and such), but did you notice how fast they were going! And they weren't even in combat, where they would go a lot faster!

[Amish John]

Hancock the Superb wrote:

Yes, it was. It would be a little more difficult to fire it with shrapnel (timing and such), but did you notice how fast they were going! And they weren't even in combat, where they would go a lot faster!

Looks like the footage was taken at Charlie Smithgall's range south of Lancaster Pa. We've done some civil war musket target shooting there. Charlie is the ex mayor of Lancaster, a civil war artillery collector, and has been an artillery consultant for movies. It didn't show in the footage, but there is a nice log blockhouse just out of sight of the scenes shown.

[BOSTON]

One of the vidieo clips was at Stone River. Seeing a whole Union battery blast away I thought was cool.

[Kerflumoxed]

From the "For What It's Worth" department:

Inclusion of retiring by prolonge in the new game should prove to be of great interest in bringing the artillery off the field when being heavily pressed and adding to the authenticity of the game. I did neglect to mention that while the artillery could move at a gallop during normal advance and retreat (artillery gaits/commands were Walk, Trot and Gallop - unlike the cavalry there was no further command to Charge), in the command "Fix Prolounge to Fire Retiring" was performed at the walk. If the charging infantry was at the Double Quick the movement could be at the trot to avoid being overrun. While it may be too late to include this small detail in the current release, hopefully it might be considered in the future.

I also neglected to note that the same manuver could be executed by the command: Fix Prolonge to Fire Advancing. When retiring, the prolonge "ring" would be attached to the pintle hook on the limber and the prolonge "toggle" attached to the lunette at the rear end of the trail. When advancing, the same procedure was practiced with the exception that the "toggle" was attached to the "lunette" of the "axle-strap" which is the same opening to which the sponge bucket was hung. This "advancing" might be a nice addition to a later patch as it would expedite the moving of the gun(s) forward to support advancing infantry, etc. rather than by hand or limbering and be more historically accurate when moving the guns more than a few yards.

Briefly addressing horse's gaits: under the current game system, the artillery and the cavalry have just the two gaits of walk/gallop. Perhaps a future patch may include the added gait of trot for the artillery and trot/gallop(or Charge) for the cavalry. Unlike the movies, Trot is a "much kinder" and most common gait for the horse to move quickly...indeed, a well-conditioned horse can literally trot all day. It is similar to a well-conditioned athlete who is used to jogging...fatigue is still a factor, but not nearly as much as a run or sprint. Naturally, it was to the benefit of all horsemen to preserve the stamina of their mounts as much as possible. In fact, one National commander (Judson Kilpatrick) was "lovingly" called Kilcavalry because of his propensity to "use up" both men and horses. The possible future inclusion of these differing gaits would add a great deal to the authenticity of the game, in my humble opinion.

Hopefully, these little "footnotes" will generate additional comment.

Thanks

J

[BOSTON]

I'd like to see a command to advance a gun (a few yards) after it has fired a shot, typically to bring the gun within cannister range or to keep up with targeted troops that are falling back.

BOSTON

[Gfran64]

Hey Kerflumoxed,

How often do you think they broke down? Meaning the wheels/axles. I would think that if you went flying around that a wheel would break ever so often or that the entire thing would upset. Or perhaps the better question is, how often did did a battery enter a combat situation and finish the engagement without mechanical failure. Did they loose a piece from time until it was repaired.

Greg B)

[Kerflumoxed]

Gfran64 wrote:

Hey Kerflumoxed,

How often do you think they broke down? Meaning the wheels/axles. I would think that if you went flying around that a wheel would break ever so often or that the entire thing would upset. Or perhaps the better question is, how often did did a battery enter a combat situation and finish the engagement without mechanical failure. Did they loose a piece from time until it was repaired.

Greg B)

Interesting questions!

Traveling forges and battery wagons were part and parcel of both the cavalry and the artillery: "One forge and one battery wagon accompany each field-battery. They are furnished with tools and materials required for shoeing horses and for ordinary repairs and preservation of carriages and harness. Page 339 of the Ordnance Manual lists the Equipment of a Forge for a Field-Battery and includes both parts and tools for repair including 100 pounds of 1/2" x 5/8" Square Iron; flat iron, round iron, horseshoes, etc. In addition, the limber pulling the forge included nails, chains, files, nail punch, etc.

The Battery Wagon carried a myriad of tools and parts defined as "Carriage-Maker's Tools."

If repairs could not be made by the batteries forge and wagon, they were sent to the Field-Park for repair or replacement. In one of my earlier posts I described the condition of Battery C of the 5th US Artillery after their service at Spotsylvania where the carriage was so riddled with rifle rounds that it was unservicable.

Also, each caisson carried a spare wheel and a spare limber pole for field repairs that could be performed by the gun crew or drivers. Further, much of the wooden parts were constructed of cured White Oak, usually reinforced with ironwork. For example, the wooden axle housing actually housed a forged iron axle that was the entire width of the carriage. The wheel hubs were build on an iron nave-box that slid onto the end of the iron axle.

As to time required to repair, it would naturally depend upon the severity of the damage. I would presume as in the case of the 5th US, the entire gun would have to be replaced from the Battery-Park.

Hopefully that will give you some idea of the sturdiness of the carriages, et.al. and the immediate availability of field repairs.

J

[BOSTON]

Kerflumoxed wrote:

Gfran64 wrote:

Hey Kerflumoxed,

How often do you think they broke down? Meaning the wheels/axles. I would think that if you went flying around that a wheel would break ever so often or that the entire thing would upset. Or perhaps the better question is, how often did did a battery enter a combat situation and finish the engagement without mechanical failure. Did they loose a piece from time until it was repaired.

Greg B)

Interesting questions!

Traveling forges and battery wagons were part and parcel of both the cavalry and the artillery: "One forge and one battery wagon accompany each field-battery. They are furnished with tools and materials required for shoeing horses and for ordinary repairs and preservation of carriages and harness. Page 339 of the Ordnance Manual lists the Equipment of a Forge for a Field-Battery and includes both parts and tools for repair including 100 pounds of 1/2" x 5/8" Square Iron; flat iron, round iron, horseshoes, etc. In addition, the limber pulling the forge included nails, chains, files, nail punch, etc.

The Battery Wagon carried a myriad of tools and parts defined as "Carriage-Maker's Tools."

If repairs could not be made by the batteries forge and wagon, they were sent to the Field-Park for repair or replacement. In one of my earlier posts I described the condition of Battery C of the 5th US Artillery after their service at Spotsylvania where the carriage was so riddled with rifle rounds that it was unservicable.

Also, each caisson carried a spare wheel and a spare limber pole for field repairs that could be performed by the gun crew or drivers. Further, much of the wooden parts were constructed of cured White Oak, usually reinforced with ironwork. For example, the wooden axle housing actually housed a forged iron axle that was the entire width of the carriage. The wheel hubs were build on an iron nave-box that slid onto the end of the iron axle.

As to time required to repair, it would naturally depend upon the severity of the damage. I would presume as in the case of the 5th US, the entire gun would have to be replaced from the Battery-Park.

Hopefully that will give you some idea of the sturdiness of the carriages, et.al. and the immediate availability of field repairs.

J

Do you recall what an Artificer does?