mrinku | 04 May 2017 11:03 p.m. PST |
Another happy Darkest Africa owner here, just a general question regarding cannons in local African service. A lot of the lists allow the option of a smoothbore cannon, but I was wondering what type might be expected in the 1870-1899 period, and if anyone knows of pictures? US Civil War or European surplus? Antiques left behind by Napoleon in Egypt? Arab manufacture? Captured invader breech loading guns that "count as" smoothbores in untrained hands? Also, what size cannons? The rules treat all smoothbore guns the same (which is fair in the context of the game's scale and scope). |
Prince Rupert of the Rhine | 04 May 2017 11:31 p.m. PST |
I think the foundry Arab gun would be a good guide
|
Doctor X | 05 May 2017 1:15 a.m. PST |
The Foundry Askari mountain gun would also probably work for you. |
Prince Rupert of the Rhine | 05 May 2017 2:19 a.m. PST |
I guess for cannons in local hands the sources could be pretty varied but they will most likely by old and not very well maintained. Even if local forces captured something modern off a colonial forces they wouldn't have the expertise or ammo to keep it running hence the use 0f smoothbore muzzle loaders probably rammed with a local version of canister to fire like a big shotgun and create a lot of noise. Depending were your locals are from old Portuguese or Dutch artillery from 16th/17th century wouldn't look out of place. Along costal areas 18th century naval guns wouldn't be outrageous either. Along the red sea/Indian ocean Arab/Persian/Turkish artillery would be reasonable. It could well be a barrel mounted on a improvised carriage. Basically anything not to western and modern for the late 19th century would work. |
chicklewis | 05 May 2017 3:52 a.m. PST |
Do you mean "Death in the Dark Continent" rather than Darkest AFrica? |
Grelber | 05 May 2017 5:07 a.m. PST |
Casting a barrel was a high tech operation, while building the wooden carriage was much less so. Hence, the barrel would be cast in Europe and sent out to Africa, expecting the locals to build their own carriage. This saved shipping weight and space. You wouldn't necessarily end up with the neat uniformity of artillery in a European battlefield, so go through the bits box and match up the TYW Dutch barrel with that Russian SYW carriage. Those Indian or Chinese barrels with a lion's head muzzle might also be fun. As Prince Rupert noted, maintenance would have been handled locally, so elegantly spoked European wheels on a Napoleonic Wars carriage might end up being replaced by solid wheels as in the photo of the Foundry gun. As far as size goes, Africa lacked the road net you had in Europe, so you are probably looking for a smaller piece, equivalent to a European pack or mountain gun. Grelber |
mrinku | 05 May 2017 1:58 p.m. PST |
@chicklewis: Yes I did :) d'oh! @Grelber: Excellent points! I probably should have mentioned my ulterior motive – I picked up a Perry plastic ACW artilery kit to use for colonial projects. That kit gives me 9 spare barrels, so scratching up a local carriage for them makes very good sense. |
Henry Martini | 05 May 2017 3:42 p.m. PST |
They might be a bit large, but if you take the narrowest barrel and cut it down a bit, then make a crude-looking carriage along the lines of the Foundry model you might achieve the right effect. |
mrinku | 05 May 2017 9:03 p.m. PST |
Okay… now got a specific question. Turns out the Dahomey Amazons were pretty well equipped with artillery, to the extent of even getting modern guns late in the piece (DitDC says from 1888). Wiki says the original guns were Danish one obtained through the slave trade. Anyone know of photos or illustrations for those girls and their cannons? Edit: Found myself a contemporary (if late) reference… "The armament of the Dahomeyans is not uniform. Every kind of firearm is to be found in their ranks, from the long "Buccaneer guns" of the old Birmingham make to the ancient Spanish espingole and the old French cavalry carbine. There are allso at Allada and Abomey some old cannon without their carriages. When they have to be used in military expeditions, they are carried on the shoulders of men under sentence for infidelity." archives.chicagotribune.com/1892/05/22/page/3/article/the-amazon-troops-of-dahomey Now THERE'S a diorama just begging to be modelled :) The article later mentions that after the correspondent had left Dahomey he understood that the their armament had greatly improved and they were probably in possession of about 3000 Snider rifles and a few small Krupp cannon. The original writer had visited around 1890. |
Doctor X | 06 May 2017 10:21 a.m. PST |
The Arab smoothbore shown above would probably be the best fit for that early cannon. Use the carriage it comes with or make one of your own. If they carried the barrels around I'm guessing the carriages would be very crude, possibly even just ground mounted on a pile of dirt or such. If they had a carriage it might have been nothing more than a block of wood. The carriage wouldn't have been for mobility, it would have been for a firing platform. The Krupp guns of that era are readily available from multiple manufacturers. |