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"Calibre of Zambuks" Topic


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Oh Bugger17 Dec 2014 5:13 a.m. PST

Many armies of our period used camel mounted guns (Zambuks)and some fielded batteries of them. Persian Zambuks were part of the regular army and the the camel carried the frame and gun and a gunner the rest of the crew trotted alongside on foot.

In action the camel knelt and the frame and gun was lifted off and placed on the ground. The crew then serviced the gun as usual. I have a battery of Persian Zambuks and I'm wondering how to rate them, obviously they are light. I'm wondering 4 pounders?

What do you think.

Personal logo The Virtual Armchair General Sponsoring Member of TMP17 Dec 2014 12:38 p.m. PST

Every size--virtually!

"Zamburuks" (Pharsi for "Wasps") were a Class of weapon, not a specific universal design. Commonly associated with armies of Persia, the same weapon type could be found all across India, into Tibet, and most of China, the latter being referred to as "Jingals."

Your description of firing drill is correct, but they could be--and were--fired directly from the kneeling camel's back "broadside" fashion in the service of the Sikh Khalsa. I cannot imagine any practical benefit to trying to fire the weapons from a moving animal.

While most were muzzle-loaders, many could be loaded at the breech with prepared loads in metal forms that could be quickly placed and removed (but please don't think of "rapid repeating fire"--the stein shaped chargers were themselves not very numerous).

Commonly associated with special mountings on camelback, they could also interchangeably be used in a wall gun application, or even an Elephant Howdah piece in Burmese usage.

"Calibers" is probably the wrong way to think of them as the term suggests relationships between barrel length and bore size that did not consciously exist. As most Zambureks were "one-offs," with virtually no two alike, shot weight and size could vary significantly.

Generally speaking, Zambureks could be classified into shot weights of 1-, 2-, and 3-pdrs. Anything heavier was at the point of being impractically large to be man/animal mobile, and justified a wheeled carriage or truck.

While solid shot was the most common load--certainly never anything fused--scrap and homemade "grape" could also be used. Such loads were particularly effective when the piece was in wall gun mode and used to cover approaches, gates, and streets.

In China, termed by Westerners as "Jingals," these same guns were even used for duck hunting! Pea sized, irregularly shaped lead shot was favored in this configuration and was meant to bag multiple birds with one discharge.

In "John Company," it was decided that the limited effectiveness of these weapons relegated them to the equivalent of musketry (though usually in very small numbers) for the chances of inflicting casualties, but granted them artillery status as an influence on enemy and friendly "morale" (a small influence, at that).

The less Zambureks are thought of as "artillery," the closer you will get to reflecting them in a balanced way on your table-top!

Best of Luck,
TVAG

Oh Bugger17 Dec 2014 5:09 p.m. PST

Oh that's interesting Patrick. I might just add them to an infantry unit and in Piquet terms give them an up two for firing. Up one if a base is destroyed.

Stoppage17 Dec 2014 5:43 p.m. PST

Royal Armouries in Leeds have a few wild fowl guns – bagging 50 at a time: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Punt_gun

Oh Bugger17 Dec 2014 5:54 p.m. PST

I'm reminded of a single Jingal wounding 15 men some of them very badly during the Boxer War. But it was fired at short range they did not do so well at longer ranges.

I think I'm begining to see my way clear maybe matchlock musket range would be right for them.

efredbar18 Dec 2014 10:34 a.m. PST

I love duck but prefer it without the shot.

Murvihill18 Dec 2014 10:39 a.m. PST

Large caliber rifles and muskets have been around for centuries. The German Jagers had some in the American War of Independance that looked basically like a large musket mounted on a kiddy trike. The Boxer Jingals were for the most part bolt-action single shot rifles using gatling ammo (.65 and .75 caliber) and were about 6' long overall. Because of the larger bullets and longer barrels they had a longer range than regular infantry weapons. For TSATF I treat them as artillery but with only one die per figure and they move as infantry.

evilgong18 Dec 2014 2:24 p.m. PST

Hi there

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.

Many armies of our period used camel mounted guns (Zambuks)and some fielded batteries of them. Persian Zambuks were part of the regular army and the the camel carried the frame and gun and a gunner the rest of the crew trotted alongside on foot.

In action the camel knelt and the frame and gun was lifted off and placed on the ground. The crew then serviced the gun as usual. I have a battery of Persian Zambuks and I'm wondering how to rate them, obviously they are light. I'm wondering 4 pounders?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I'm not so sure about the foot trotting crew, IIRC I've only seen that on one pic and I'm not exactly sure what it represents.

There are some surviving, IIRC Sikh, unit organisation information that does not suggest extra foot gunners and the vast majority of Persian pics show one man, one camel, one gun. In any case their name suggests that mobility was a key part of their role.

There are Moghul pics showing them firing while ridden, not kneeling.

Westerners seem to disparage them, but they have a history from 1500ish to 1850ish, from Egypt to Central Asia / India so they must have had something going for them.

I suspect there were several types, which you would guess over such a long time. Some fired from the saddle, some from a kneeling beast and some detached to fire from the ground. I guess some gun designs could do all three, with increasing accuracy but decreasing ability to run away as required.

Calibres /weight seem to range from 1/2 to 4 Pdr.

As to your rules, I'd rate a battery of them as the lightest weight of horse artillery, perhaps with some firing penalties for range / accuracy / penetration.

Barker's Horse Foot Guns, creates a class of Portable Arty that includes zamburaks, jingals, amusettes, man-portable rockets and similar.

The high point for zamburaks was the reported 10,000 Afghans using them to maul a Moghul army.

Have fun.

David F Brown

Druzhina06 Jan 2015 8:31 p.m. PST

There are Moghul pics showing them firing while ridden, not kneeling.

There may be pictures of Moghuls firing while ridden (ie modern images). I would like to see a Moghul painting showing them firing while ridden. Anyone?

Druzhina
Moghul Illustrations of Costume & Soldiers

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