"How would you model Mr Franklin's Galvanic artillery?" Topic

A bug just bit me to do some 18th C "VSF" or GASLIGHT or Age of Reason games using among other things, Mister Franklin's Leyden Jar Galvanic Discharge Artillery.
Well, I have enough Pirate or Swashbuckling figures that look like Ben Franklin, but can anyone give me some ideas for the "guns"?

The last time I got heavily into GASLIGHT, I trolled the jewelry aisles of craft stores for some good stuff.

Ork Shokk Attack gun on an 18 century carrage

The jewelry aisles are a great place to start. The Michaels in my area is carrying a section of steampunk inspired jewelry, Industrial Age or something like that is brand name. They have all sorts of weird things including some oddly shaped tiny light bulb earings with gothic caps that I was going to use for leyden jars. I'll try to take some picturs tonight and post them to my blog.

For my Ben Franklin's War, I used the Parroom Station sky race starting games as leyden jar stand-ins but I really wasn't entirely happy with the results.

link
They're in the picture titled "The Omni-directional Lighting Rod"

Of what size would be the 'Mister Franklin's Leyden Jar Galvanic Discharge Artillery' piece?
At the upper extremity it could be a huge war engine along the lines of "Colonel O'Truth"'s tremendous Faraday Galvanic Field Gun

link
link
Not many rivets so it could almost as such be crewed by people in tricornes -though if would be fitting to add a little rococo decoration (from a 1/144 or smaller galley model?)

Teams of oxen instead of the dino, of course (?)
No reflector.
The 'generator' looks too 'modern' for the FIW, and anyway is inappropriate for a lightning / thunderbolt projector: the 'tender' would instead carry a battery of huge Leyden jars.


(Martin van Marum's "Electriseermachine").
Because of the roughness of field conditions, each jar would be embedded in padding, or wickerwork like a dame-jeanne

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A more modest design could follow the lines of Privater Press Stormsmith Stormtower

For a one-man version:

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At the other extremity you could have Leyden jars thrown like grenades (was it the secret of the Holy Hand-Grenade of Antioch?):
- by hand
- with a sling,
- with a staff-sling (the staff doubling as a boarspear for self-defense), reaching the same practical range as a musket.
Grenade-throwers were known in the 18th C., but I suspect Leyden jars, like the late 19th C. dynamite-filled shells, would explode is propelled by a gunpowder charge, thus in the same manner compressed air would be used instead. Airguns were already known link
Privateer Press Warmachine has several weapons that could be inspirational

and *specially*:

.

Now, Wrath of Kings link VSF Herald of Blood, converted with a tricorn, would make a great 18th C. adventuress wielding a short range / hand to hand 'thunderbolt thrower'

And, John, I avoided to use that 'Lacepunk' word you *hate* (though I fear I'm the one who coined it years ago on the Old School Wargaming or Socdaisy Yahoo group )

I forgive you…

BTW, no one gives ME credit for "When you paint everything you own, you die", nor "Dogs of War" in the wargaming sense, either.

I did you must not have been on that day…

Don't do it, John. The Piedmontese will just retaliate with their Volta Piles Discharge Gun. And who knows, you might ignite all the phlogiston in the atmosphere and kill everyone on Earth!

Volta piles are so heavy, Voltaic artillery would be restricted to fortress defenses. In our 'alternate' 18th C. very light Leyden jars are more efficient 'electricity tanks'

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6mm to 15 mm models of gabions could provide the bodies of Leyden jars enclosed in wickerwork like 'demijohns' en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carboy . For the tops, (halves of) lentils, pills, M&M candies, circular alveolus from plastic blister strips… painted metallic dark green to mimick bottle glass ; a drop of glue, a bit of string painted metallic copper….
"Colonel O' Truth" uses guitar string: painted as (isolating) leather could perhaps be used for high-voltage cables?

According to their number and bulk, such jars could be strapped on the back of the soldier armed with an individual 'firebolt thrower', carried in light carts or huge wagons.

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Grenade-sized Leyden jars could also be thrown by kinds or arbalest / manuballista, either in direct fire or, specially during sieges, indirect fire as in the WWI trenches:

(the sauterelle 'grasshopper': rather fitting for the AWI)
Other grenade-throwing contraptions copied on Ancient war engines were improvised on the field:



link

More sophisticated, and 'official', patterns are presented here:
PDF link
with 'regulation' light carts to carry them, Coehorn mortar fashion -may interest converters.
Historically in Belgium such carts were drawn by dogs: link

available in miniature (Brigade models)


In Monte-Cristo such carts are drawn by huge goats

I've posted pictures of the jewelry items I mentioned above:

link

I think the name of the line is Industrial Chic.

Thanks, bogdanwaz!
I will have to check them out.

Hasslefree Miniatures have been sending out bits of real watches (I think) with some of their summer deals. Not for the galvanic core device obviously, but could be useful for the aiming mechanism?

GW's Necron weaponry has fluorescent green plastic barrels and crystals. These or their sprues might be put to use for the arcane elements.

Thanks, bogdanwaz for the headsup to Industrial Chic.
I just got a nice bank of Leyden Jars, and some parabolic galvanic discharge devices to fit on artillery carriages! Like far too many gamers, I have far too much artiller. Time to melt down some of those barrells into church bells, methinks.
And while I was there at Michael's I got some more bgasswood for bases and mossy mats for … mossy mats.

That's great, John. Post some pictures if you can.

I picked up some of their tiny mirrors they had for an Archimedian Heat Ray that I'm working on for a Weird Roman game.

There is some "interesting" stuff in that range, just waiting for GASLIGHT type conversions.

Greatly inspirational:

link

Specially like the types on the (upper and middle) left.
Amusette-sized and in dog draught, to look more… unusual (horses and oxen are more sensitive to electric fields )

Because of the Faraday cage effect I fear steel-covered steamtaks are immune to galvanic weapons?

Great builds, nice one JL

regards
dave

Wrath of Kings link / wrathofkings.com/gallery.html VSF 'Herald of Blood': a short range 'thunderbolt thrower'?
Oddly, her images refuse to appear on most fora; new links: