| Garde de Paris | 04 Sep 2019 7:24 a.m. PST |
link I did not realize this has such long service! GdeP |
 Artilleryman  | 04 Sep 2019 7:47 a.m. PST |
It is a bit like the Needle Gun; it was introduced a lot earlier than you think! |
| bsrlee | 04 Sep 2019 9:24 a.m. PST |
IIRC some were issued to Militia during the 1848 uprisings in the Austrian Empire from old stocks held in an armory. |
| stecal | 04 Sep 2019 10:08 a.m. PST |
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| Jcfrog | 04 Sep 2019 11:47 a.m. PST |
Read somewhere French, it was not shooting far enough and you might not see the shooters no noise, no smoke, well the target might not even know about them. Then they think they get hit by stray balls from somewhere and never stop nor flinch, up to a point, which is also very disconcerting for the shooters who might be tempted to run.
In other settings well, in petite guerre it might be useful. Too fragile, a bit complicated. But funny. Wonder how to run it in skirmishes!
Soon will see it in the flesh, end of the month in Austria! |
| Cloudy | 04 Sep 2019 12:47 p.m. PST |
I remember watching a "Forgotten Weapons" YouTube video on it a few years ago. A rather interesting weapon. |
| skipper John | 04 Sep 2019 5:55 p.m. PST |
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| charared | 04 Sep 2019 6:56 p.m. PST |
Lewis and Clark's Corp of Exploration carried a Girandoni (or a close US copy) to impress the Native Nations of "US" technology. Certainly a weapon before it's time, but still a brave "enlightened" choice by Austria, often described as a "dinosaur"! |
| The Beast Rampant | 05 Sep 2019 3:21 p.m. PST |
I learned about this odd and interesting longarm when I ran across the reference in Osprey's Napoleonic Austrian Light/Auxiliary Troops volume. I find it remarkable that, given the machining tolerances of the era, they could mass produce such a thing. |
| von Winterfeldt | 05 Sep 2019 11:33 p.m. PST |
air guns were also weapons for hunting and did well exist in the civilian sector, the Austrians did use it in military fashion, Figner, a Russian partizan leader in the Napoleonic War did also use it. |
ScottWashburn  | 06 Sep 2019 4:14 a.m. PST |
I saw the Lewis and Clark air gun at a display in the Carlisle, PA Army Heritage Center a few years ago. An amazing thing! (Actually, the detective work that went into confirming that it was the L&C gun was as interesting as the gun itself.)
L&C used it to overawe the Indians by firing a bunch of shots in quick succession, but never using up the air reservoir. They just told the Indians, 'Look, we can fire forever and never need to reload!'
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| Ed Mohrmann | 09 Sep 2019 12:57 p.m. PST |
I 'discovered' the air rifle weapon over 30 years ago
and designed a skirmish scenario around it. Basically, a British diplomat is being installed in
the free city of Hamburg. He is to be conveyed
there by coach. The coach will be escorted by a half-dozen Prussian
cavalry. The Russians put forth a team of three assassins -
one has the classic 'sputtering fuse' bomb; another
a pair of rifled dueling pistols with the new style
flat copper percussion caps while the third is a
crack shot with the Austrian air rifle. Their job
of course is the elimination of the diplomat and
to cause diplomatic havoc. All the weapons the assassins have bear Austrian
marks and they wear vestiges of French uniforms. Ran this little game a half-dozen times and it was
always a hoot. |
| Garde de Paris | 11 Sep 2019 8:31 a.m. PST |
What were the outcomes of your games? Did the Brit survive most games? GdeP |
proves that you don't need to be a master painter or invest hundreds of hours working to get good results.
