Napoleonic Wargame Club (NWC)

As the subject therein lies, I, still being fairly new to the HPS Nappy series, am a bit confused as to when and how to use artillery properly.

1. Where should it be located ? On higher locations so that it can have an unrestricted LOS to its targets. With supports so that it can have protection from cavalry.

2. How/When should it be used? especially on the offensive? Horse artillery better suited for this but one way to use them is to have a river between itself and the target and advance down one side of the river firing on the flanks of the enemy while their own forces pursue them down the river line.

3. Which county throughout these wars really dominated the field with their artillery? and how did they do it? France - they had undergone an artillery reform which allowed them to move their artillery speedily. Had the British had more guns they would have been able to have dominated the field but grand batteries were still some time off and probably were not achieved until the Boar War and certainly into WW1 at the earliest. The Russians had a good artillery arm as well but were hampered by the lack of great commanders as it regards the offensive. Defensively they could make any position almost impregnable. The Austrians were able to amass large batteries as well at battles like Wagram and Dresden. Their main issue seems to be in the maximum range but one source I have says that they were superior to the French at the medium range. The French horse artillery were in a class by themselves along with the Royal Horse Artillery.

I find myself in situations where I have an abundance of artillery and have no idea where to place it or what to do with it especially if I'm attacking (vs. defending). I end up with a huge clustered mess of artillery and end up losing them to the enemy which in turn is obviously a huge VP loss for myself and quite demoralizing as well.

You need to give them some opening to fire on the enemy. It sounds to me like your opponents are using the terrain against you. They are drawing you into an attack at entirely the wrong location or you need to use the LOS button on the Toolbar more to pick out locations where you can position guns to sweep the field.

A little bit off topic, but I have the same tendency with artillery in the HPS Civil War Series? I know its a few years apart, but ultimately the question remains; how does one best use artillery in the 19th century ???

Same as here. ACW not too much apart from this war except where it regards range and effectiveness (Napoleons being more effective at close range in that series - with Whitworths owning the range derby). It all has to do with how you set up your attack and where you position your guns. I plan on putting up some tactical exercises eventually for the Coalition that will be like a staff college test. The officer will pick from a choice of locations on the map to place their guns relative to where the enemy is using maps from the HPS/JTS games.

Thoughts? Ideas? Thanks!!