Napoleonic Wargame Club (NWC)

Dear gentlemen officers,

My strong opinion: all nations' battalion/regimental (3-4pdr) guns suppose to get C (Horse) status.
It would be historically correct. They were very light and always marched and fight with their Inf.Btns together, and did not need 10-15min for to get on a position and open fire. It takes for them couple minutes because cannoniers carried the gun loads in leather bugs, and did not await the regimental caissons arriving.
Champions were the Austrian Cavalry Artillery men: they have the time normative of 10 seconds (!)
(after G.Rothenberg's researches).

Votre serviteur -

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General-Feldmarshal Prince Vladimir N. Repnin
Imperial Russian Corps Commander
Prince Braine-Le Comte & The Adjutant-General of His Imperial Majesty
Chevalier Guards Regiment

The OB Files are not locked. You could easily copy them and then modify them as you like. I will not be going back to make all of the 3lb and 4lb guns to be horse artillery. I remember the discussion we had on the Austrian batteries during the Eckmuhl development. Because I had read where the crew rode on the unique limber than the Austrians use I had thought it should mean that ALL Austrian guns should be horse artillery. Alas that would have been a bit unhistorical as even though they could get into action they lacked the speed of horse artillery on the move. We couldn't create a third class of "Fast Foot Artillery" either so we left them as foot artillery.

Note: Fast Foot Artillery would be able to move, unlimber and fire but would use the foot artillery movement rate. Currently horse artillery moves as per the cavalry speed and can unlimber and fire. It would be nice if ALL foot artillery could 1. Unlimber and 2. Fire ... no movement allowed (that is move from hex to hex) but the game series doesnt differentiate between hex movement and the unlimber/limber operation. Its all based on MPs.

Its an imperfect system. You can only change it so much .....

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Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Prinz Peters von Dennewitz

3. Husaren-Regiment, Reserve-Kavallerie, Preußischen Armee-Korps

Honarary CO of Garde-Ulanen Regiment, Garde-Grenadier Kavallerie

NWC Founding Member

For Club Games: I prefer the Single Phase mode of play. I prefer to play with the following options OFF:

MDF, VP4LC, NRO, MTD, CMR, PR, MIM, NDM, OMR (ver 4.07)

Ideally limbering/unlimbering as well as offensive firing would cost a certain number of movement points. This would allow for either unlimbering and firing or moving and unlimbering.

While we're on the subject, why does it cost more to unlimber horse artillery than foot? It should cost less or at least the same number of points rather than a percentage of total.

Last pet peave for the moment - all nationalities and grades should not have the same movement rates due to differences in training, equipment, doctrine and organization. Guard should have more than line, French and British better than Prussian and Russian, etc.

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Maréchal d'Empire Theron Lambert
Grand-duc de Montereau et Duc d'Angers

MP rates can be adjusted in the Musket and Pike series. I would love to use that series game engine, with modifications, to do another Napoleonic game. VPs are assigned to the units too. Thus Guard would be worth more if lost than National Guard units.

On Horse Artillery - they use the cavalry class MPs. Thus they move further every turn. Just figure that it all balances out as far as them spending 1/2 their turn changing formation. They can zip down the road and be in position a lot sooner than foot artillery can.

What is fun to do in this series is grab all of the horse guns and use them as a mobile grand battery. Always keep a water barrier or some impassable object in the way of the enemy. Unlimber .. fire 30-40 horse guns at a unit ...

There is a lot to do in the series as far as changes. My old list of suggested changes is on a damaged drive but pretty much I had a list that looked like this:

1. Use the Arty capture rule from the ACW series

2. Ditto on the Arty Crew rule.

3. VPs would be modified by morale grade.

4. No Mounted Fire - Optional rule. I would then live with the arming of cavalry with fire arms a lot more that way.

More were on the list.

........

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Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Prinz Peters von Dennewitz

3. Husaren-Regiment, Reserve-Kavallerie, Preußischen Armee-Korps

Honarary CO of Garde-Ulanen Regiment, Garde-Grenadier Kavallerie

NWC Founding Member

For Club Games: I prefer the Single Phase mode of play. I prefer to play with the following options OFF:

MDF, VP4LC, NRO, MTD, CMR, PR, MIM, NDM, OMR (ver 4.07)

Yes, all my Austrian 3-lb Regimental guns got status C already (in the Early Italian, Austerlitz, Eckmuhl's OBs).
But I use it only with their Inf.Btns together. No another way.

Besides heavy ammo caissons, Horse Art.batteries had a light limber with small ammo, and a carriage team of 4-6 best Cav. horses for each gun - that is why they could operate independently and with speed.

The Light Regimental Art. cannon could be get ready for firing as soon as the Horse Art. cannon but they had not limbers and special carriage teams - art.crews moved the guns by hands on a battlefield, they barely could follow their infantry; the regimental park had 2-3 caissons of Art.ammo with the ordinary train nags as carriage teams,
on a battlefield they usually stayed behind the regimental array, and artillerymen brought loads to cannon in big leather bugs; moreover, they constantly used the help of their battalions' men when on broken terrain, so, they could not act independently at all.

I'm going to do this editing for the Prussian/Saxon Reg.Art. in J-A Campaign, and for LGA's Reg.Art. in NRC too.
The losing of 3-4pdr gun has same value as 6-12pdr. But their practical behoof is almost nothing.
So, at least, they would be constantly under Inf. cover and have a chance for saving. Isn't it?

_________________
General-Feldmarshal Prince Vladimir N. Repnin
Imperial Russian Corps Commander
Prince Braine-Le Comte & The Adjutant-General of His Imperial Majesty
Chevalier Guards Regiment

Vladmir - last I heard about the Prussian and Saxon battalion guns was from a customer long ago that said I should have combined them into batteries as happened historically. He said that during the campaign all of the regimental guns were put together into batteries - that is how I do it now. In batteries of 6-8 guns. Players can form Extended Line with the 8 gun batteries and break them down into 4 gun sections if they want.

Your call on the horse battery idea. I dont like how they can suddenly move VERY quickly down a road. As you said that were hand drawn. Makes no sense to give them a faster movement rate for EACH turn. To each his own but historically the battalion gun concept was dropped by most armies.

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Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Prinz Peters von Dennewitz

3. Husaren-Regiment, Reserve-Kavallerie, Preußischen Armee-Korps

Honarary CO of Garde-Ulanen Regiment, Garde-Grenadier Kavallerie

NWC Founding Member

For Club Games: I prefer the Single Phase mode of play. I prefer to play with the following options OFF:

MDF, VP4LC, NRO, MTD, CMR, PR, MIM, NDM, OMR (ver 4.07)