"Wars of the Roses Light Artillery Mobility?" Topic

These guns were probably not all that mobile while a battle is underway. Would it be accurate to prohibit them from moving at all, maybe just allowing them to pivot in place? I was thinking that maybe allowing them to move a couple of inches a turn (instead of firing) might be a viable option since the crew should be able to manhandle the guns a bit. Input appreciated.

Depends what you mean by "light artillery". A small Ribauldequin would be quite manoeuvrable on the battlefield whereas any piece with a reasonably sized barrel would probably not be.

Light guns could be maneuvered fairly easily if you had enough guys, but the ammunition and powder needed to be moved as well, so I think they were probably just kept in position for the duration of a battle.
Also, the gunners would not want to be at risk themselves so would keep at as long a range as they reasonably could, I think!

I saw a display by a group of re-enactors who specialise in early artillery. And before anyone scoffs that they're 'only re-enactors' etc, the equipment is the same iron and wood and stuff that the originals were.

Anyway. Late medieval guns mounted on a wheeled carriage can be trundled around quite rapidly by a couple of blokes! The big stuff, like bombards, was definitely immobile though….

What I am using is Perry Miniatures WR6 and WR7.

What I am using is Perry Miniatures WR6 and WR7.

WR6 is a small piece and as others have said would probably be quite manoeuvrable on the battlefield. WR7 is bigger and I would hesitate to let that move very far.

Having said that, artillery tactics in the WOTR was much more about creating an artillery encampment and persuading your opponent to attack it (or not) rather than attempting to use artillery in an attack. At Barnet the Lancastrians engaged in a night bombardment of the Yorkist lines, but there is litle if any evidence that the artillery was used in the battle itself.

I mainly got the two Perry packs to have some variety in what was being fielded (appearance-wise). It was not my intention to use them as anything other than light art. pieces. I will probably just use them both as light guns and allow them a small movement allowance if they don't fire. Of course, they'd have to be selected as one of the ordered units to be able to do anything. I am going to try and come up with a variant of the "Commands & Colors: Ancients" system for the WOTR. This WR7 gun looks like it will be a bit of a chore to assemble.

I can't say I recall reading about any battles where the artillery was moved, once the battle was started.

Perhaps, for light wheeled carriages, you could permit each side to set out their armies, and then to redeploy them, if desired, against an opponent if desired, within their battles lines, before any shooting starts, or advancing begins.

Other than that, I wouldn't recommend them being able to move, other than pivoting in place, or in a campaign game.

Part would depend on how much of the game represents the pre battle approach. Deployment zones often mean that each side is out of artillery range of the other. There is debate whether battles like Bosworth had preliminary artillery fire from both sides or just Richard's. If you want Henry's to fire then you probably need to allow at least initial movement from the guns. Once placed, then they might be restricted.