I'm in the middle of a 1758 SYW project (with Prussians & Russians as the main
contenders) and wanted to ask your advice on representing battalion guns.
I understand that the real world allocation of 3pdr battalion guns was usually in the
ratio of four per Regiment (Russians) and two per Regiment (Prussians). However,
given that I am using 30-figure infantry battalions, I feel that I need to carefully
ration artillery so that it doesn't appear out of proportion to the infantry and to
ensure it avoids becoming an unrealistically dominant factor.
Working on a standardised organisation for both sides of four battalions per Brigade,
my current plan is to allocate two 3pdr guns to each Russian Brigade and only one
for each Prussian Brigade. This sounds about right to me but I wouold be grateful
for your thoughts.
BTW I will probably be using Black Powder rules.
[I understand that the real world allotment of battalion guns would vary according
to circumstances and that 3pdrs would sometimes be supplemented by other calibres
- I'm just using the above as an example to simplify the discussion !]
Many thanks,
Phil
If you want to represent them separately then this makes sense - I have done similar with WWII T&OE where there are small numbers of weapons at platoon level, and aggregate those a company or battalion level to have enough to represent them on the table.
The other option (which Baroque rules use) is to just roll the battalion gun into the battalion, and adjust its stats slightly to represent this.
In Honours of War they are just included in the firing factor and give a longer range. Units can be either with or without battalion guns. It would be possible to include them as one of the 5 bases to show which units had the batt guns.
In my opinion Honours of War is far superior to Black Powder in representing the Seven Years War (and a lot more fun to play). I represent battalion guns by adding a 3pdr to one base with two infantry, the gun and two crew. Gun stats are built into the play system, as mentioned above.
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/dourpuritan/10mm%20SYW/IMG_1715_zps50byyy5n.jpg)
I'm thinking of trying the Honours of War as I didn't feel Black Powder quite did 7YW justice, although the Last Argument of Kings supplement was very useful, anyone played HoW?
On the battalion gun debate I tried using 10mm guns but they looked too big but 6mm guns with a couple of 10mm infantrymen as crew looks about right.
I have seen a line drawing of a battalion gun - The wheels reached the crew shoulders. Don't confuse C18th battalion guns with C17th frame guns and the like. As the war progressed the Prussians began to use 6pdrs as battalion guns. The Pendraken 3pdr is a good compromise.
Honours of War is a battalion based game. Movement is carried out by brigades and commanders dice off at the start of a turn to try and grab the initiative. Combat (fire and close) is carried out using average dice, and it is possible to bring units back up to strength. Should you decide to go with the rules I would highly recommend joining the HoW forum for all sorts of support including downloadable QRS sheets, scenarios and ideas for expanding into the '45, WAS and AWI, uniform tips etc. Incidentally, QRS scale does not necessarily match figure scale. In my case, because I base my 10mm figures on 25mm frontage and use four bases for a standard unit (not 5 as recommended - although 5 20mm frontage bases will give the same unit frontage) the 15mm QRS is the one to use.
Thank you for the advice and thoughts. Very much appreciated.
Leman - I do like the pic, thank you. It definitely conveys the
impression I am after.
Thanks again.
Phil
Cheers Phil; in the HoW book all the photos are of 28mm figures put out on 6x4 tables. However their frontage is 200mm per unit. As it happens all movement, ranges etc in the 28mm QRS is double the 15mm one. This is very handy because it means I can put on a 10mm scenario on a 3x2 table, and it still looks pretty good. Here's an example from one of the forum scenarios (most of which are written for any two opponents).
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/dourpuritan/10mm%20SYW/IMG_1713_zpsprvc8phj.jpg)
This is Barry Hilton's scenario No.1
Since that game I have given most of my Prussian infantry units a battalion gun.
(http://i1101.photobucket.com/albums/g440/dourpuritan/10mm%20SYW/IMG_1731_zpsv9xw8nai.jpg)
Leman,
Thank you for the heads up on the HoW rules - these do sound interesting
with some very positive reviews.
I am thinking of buying them and giving them a go but my only slight concern
is whether there will be an issue with the way my battalions are based (3 bases
per battalion with a total frontage of 15cm). Example below :
(http://i761.photobucket.com/albums/xx254/glorfindel-666/10mm%20Seven%20Years%20War/IMG_2682_zps1awsku3c.jpg) (http://s761.photobucket.com/user/glorfindel-666/media/10mm%20Seven%20Years%20War/IMG_2682_zps1awsku3c.jpg.html)
To be honest, I'm not expecting this to be an issue - most rules can cope as long
as both sides use the same basing convention. Given that I will be painting the
opposition (Russians), this isn't going to be a problem !
Thanks again,
Phil
basing
Those are rather splendid !
Cheers - Phil
Quote from: DanJ on 26 September 2016, 03:17:02 PM
I'm thinking of trying the Honours of War as I didn't feel Black Powder quite did 7YW justice, although the Last Argument of Kings supplement was very useful, anyone played HoW?
On the battalion gun debate I tried using 10mm guns but they looked too big but 6mm guns with a couple of 10mm infantrymen as crew looks about right.
That's what I'm doing too.