I believe that <u>supply units should rout</u> when fired upon...with a high rout probability such as an E or F quality unit. The wagon drivers were often civilians or slaves. Bedford Forrest had 50 of his slaves as drivers with a promise of their freedom at the end of the war for faithful service.
<u>Supply wagon routs</u> would encourage the owning player to protect and conceal them instead of putting them out front to absorb fire and spare combat units. How could an offensive be maintained with the supplies running away from the front? [:0]
Rich has already assured me that it won't happen, but again I petition that artillery units should run out of ammunition after continuous fire of an hour or more... unless they are in supply range of a supply wagon. Their limbers only carried enough ammo for less than an hour of continuous fire. Assuming fire conservation as they ran low, I would give them even two hours.
Here is an account of the third day of Gettysburg concerning the cannonade of the union lines by confederate gunners who had previously massed 120 guns and stockpiled ammo in preparation.
THEY RAN OUT OF AMMO!
http://www.nps.gov/archive/gett/getttour/day3-det.htm
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="3" face="book antiqua" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">It was just before 1 PM when General Longstreet sent orders to the Washington Artillery of New Orleans, stationed in the Peach Orchard, to fire the signal shots to begin the bombardment. The afternoon calm was broken by two loud booms followed by a violent, simultaneous blast of fire from the solid line of Confederate cannon. Surprised Union artillerymen ran to their cannon and returned fire. The battlefield shook under the weight of explosions. Fire and dense smoke covered the ridges and rolled across the fields. Gunners toiled over their heated guns as shells churned up the earth around them, knocking men and horses to the ground. Caissons and limber chests of two Union batteries erupted in massive explosions. Alexander anxiously watched the Yankee line through binoculars. It appeared that nothing could live under the weight of the bombardment on that narrow ridge, but the Union gunfire did not subside; these determined Union cannoneers simply would not quit. Alexander's fears were proving true; the Confederate guns were not doing as much damage as he had hoped in the initial attack and with the high rate of fire necessary to suppress the Union artillery, his ammunition chests would quickly be depleted. Adding to the problem was the poor quality of some southern-made artillery fuzes and shells, many of which failed to explode. Inexperienced gunners in several batteries had difficulty aiming their cannon properly and many shells sailed over Cemetery Ridge into the Union rear, doing little damage to the front line troops and guns. <font color="yellow">The bombardment continued toward its second hour when ammunition chests began to empty</font id="yellow">. Artillery drivers took their caissons to the site where wagons loaded with extra ammunition were located, only to find them gone. General William N. Pendleton, Lee's artillery chief, had ordered the wagons away for their protection and not bothered to tell Alexander or any of his subordinates where they had been sent. Staff officers rode off to search for the wayward supply wagons as Alexander's gunners began to empty the last level of artillery shells in the limber chests.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Here is the account of the union artillery activities.
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="3" face="book antiqua" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">General Hunt, who had earlier remarked on the impressive display of Confederate ordnance, had also prepared the Union artillery line that morning by insuring fresh batteries could be sent forward from the Artillery Reserve when needed. <font color="yellow">When his active batteries ran low on ammunition, Hunt could replace them with new units from the reserve. After forty minutes of constant shelling, those batteries near the center of the line were low on long range ammunition or partially disabled. Hunt ordered those gunners to cease fire and sent couriers to bring fresh batteries forward.</font id="yellow"> The Union fire slackened as the guns went silent. Artillerymen in several batteries limbered their smoking guns and prepared to leave, yet many could not- the tremendous barrage had killed or maimed most of the horses, which lay in heaps in front of the limbers and caissons still strapped into their harnesses.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Both sides kept their supply trains out of harm's way. The union commander had batteries fire until dry, and then withdraw, replacing them with fresh units. Nobody could fire more than two hours (mostly less) without running out of ammo,...unless resupplied.
<font size="4">THAT MAKES SENSE.</font id="size4">
No more could the horse arty (big advantage for the union)run anywhere on the map and fire until their army "great cosmic artillery ammo depot" (in the sky?) runs dry. It would also greatly affect regular artillery units and our handling of their positioning.
I suggest that any friendly supply wagon in range of any artillery unit can be utilized for artillery resupply. That would give a reason to conserve and protect wagons with low rifle ammo, while keeping the game simple as possible. No deductions need be made from rifle ammo.
I believe that this issue is one of the biggest anomalies left in our game engines that could easily be fixed and ought to be.
Is there anyone else who agrees?...or wants to make a counter argument?
BG Ross McDaniel
2nd Bde, 3rd Div, III Corps, AoG, CSA
Here is another account of the third day, Battle of Gettysburg.
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepage ... ttysb3.htm