American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

Does anyone think that maybe there ought to be a restriction upon how severely depressed the barrels of the artillery can effectively operate? I'm thinking primarily of adjacent hex elevation differences, but I suppose there might be some thought of a formula that applied to slightly extended ranges as well. It all boils down to the angle of depression that can actually occur within a space of 250 yards (two hexes) with the elevation differentials.

Now I'm not saying this should apply to a cavalry or infantry unit moving up the elevation and meleeing into the artillery's hex. In that situation the attacker is going to get his head blown off but good! But what if the target is just resting there, like maybe what happened in some instances in the assault up Missionary Ridge?



Maj. Gen. Jos. C. Meyer
Second Division, 14th Corps,
Army of the Cumberland

It isn't an easy problem since HPS height handling is granular enough to show the difference between sloped ground and steeply angled ground. When you look at Missionary Ridge on the Chickamauga Map it doesn't really look any steeper than terrain on the Gettysburg map. But we know artillery worked on Seminary Ridge at Gettysburg but not Missionary Ridge.

LG. Kennon Whitehead
Chatham Grays
1/1/III AoM (CSA)

I definatly agree that the artillery should be revamped. To use Fredericksburg as an example: one of the reasons that Pelham's gun attack was so successful was that initially, the Union guns couldn't hit him. The guns on the other side of the Rappahanock couldn't depress their barrels enough to hit a target so close to the river. The I Corps guns that were closest to Pelham, however, were too close for the type of guns they were to actually hit him; they just overshot him.

The game engine can't represent this, and as a result, Pelham's guns get eliminated in the first turn, before they can even fire. There are other problems- such as a cannon's ability to hit a 150 yard area no matter the distance- that I feel could also be addressed, and allow us to use guns far more realistically (ie. stray shells hitting units to the rear, friendly fire, etc.).

Lt. Dylan McCartney
IV Brigade/ I Division
XIV Corps
Army of the Cumberland
Union Army

If the slope is consistent, and the target and artillery piece are on the same slope then there is no depression. This would hold true until the point the cannon rolls down the slope by itself due to gravity[:)]

I looked in my books and could find nothing about the allowable gun depression by the standard carriage. Do we have an idea what it was?



Cpt Jack Waldron
2nd Bde/1st Div/XIX Corps/AoS/USA

"My aim, then, was to whip the rebels, to humble their pride, to follow them to their inmost recesses, and make them fear and dread us. Fear is the beginning of wisdom." William T Sherman

http://www.napoleon-series.org/

Follow the above link to the Napoleon Series. Once there look up WHAT's NEW section. When you find it go to the newest War of 1812 magazine for an article entitled: "Field Artillery of the War of 1812: Equipment, Organization, Tactics and Effectiveness".

It is very good, and although a few years early for the ACW timeframe, it gives a good history of where US arty thinking came from. Within the section on TACTICS one finds the following paragraph:

"Because all fire was direct fire, gun positions had to be carefully chosen so that concentration of fire could be achieved and the enemy kept in view as long as possible. The choice of a firing position was crucial and British and American artillery manuals of the period emphasized this as being a field artillery commander's most important responsibility.[29] The best positions were those that would subject the ground over which an enemy must advance to enfilade or oblique fire and, hopefully, crossfire from two or more batteries.[30] Large caliber artillery pieces were placed so that an enemy could be observed at a distance to permit their superior range to have effect for a longer period.[31] Elevation was desirable but had to be watched carefully lest height interfere with projectile trajectories - the suggested elevations were 16 yards of height to 200 yards of range and 30-40 yards of height to 600 yards of range.[32] Ideally, guns were positioned where they could support the infantry without inconveniencing both arms. For this reason, positions in front of, or between, infantry formations were frowned on. One American manual de­scribed the proper positioning of artillery as being like that of a bastion with a good field of fire placed along a fortress wall composed of infantry.[33] Artillery accompanied the infantry when it moved but did not necessarily align with it.[34]"





MG Al "Ambushed" Amos, Commanding Officer
4th "Amos' Ambushers" Bde, 1st Div, XX Corps, AoC, USA

http://www.usregulars.com/

Two ACW arty regulations can be accessed from the above link.

MG Al "Ambushed" Amos, Commanding Officer
4th "Amos' Ambushers" Bde, 1st Div, XX Corps, AoC, USA