robert piepenbrink  | 20 Feb 2021 7:42 p.m. PST |
Wilkin & Wilkin's FIGHTING THE BRITISH describes a French Revolutionary battle in which British forces were actually firing coins. (Nijmegen, 1794. Denomination isn't specified, but a pre-decimalization British penny would have been a formidable weapon.) The French troops, having been paid in assignats, were a bit ambiguous about the whole thing. May I suggest a chance card for gamers who favor such a thing? They're Firing Money!
(Only possible for besieged British troops, the paymasters of the Coalitions, and then only as a substitute for grapeshot or canister.) French forces calculate casualties as normal, then roll 1D6. On a roll of 1-3, they remain in place, trading off casualties in the hope of getting paid. On a roll of 4-6, they make a charge move toward the firing battery, hoping to capture the ammunition wagon. Now, if we can find a way of firing Susan B. Anthony dollars at the Taliban… |
| Mike Petro | 20 Feb 2021 8:24 p.m. PST |
"Best buck-eighty I ever spent!" |
| Stryderg | 20 Feb 2021 8:30 p.m. PST |
probably wouldn't work as well with paper money. |
| Mike Petro | 20 Feb 2021 8:32 p.m. PST |
Paper money is a -1 to die roll. |
| Au pas de Charge | 20 Feb 2021 9:15 p.m. PST |
The British were shooting wads of money at people all throughout the Napoleonic Wars. I think that's where P. Diddy got the idea. |
| 4th Cuirassier | 21 Feb 2021 5:52 a.m. PST |
Did not Sir Stamford Raffles famously fire a gun loaded with gold sovereigns into the jungle, so the locals would clear the trees for him looking for the money? It must have been a 32-pounder, because he built Singapore on the clearing. That's actually quite a good pi55-take. It reminds of the police in the 1984-5 miners' strike, where a busload would club together to get £50.00 GBP together and they'd then burn the £50.00 GBP note in view of the miners. |
| ConnaughtRanger | 21 Feb 2021 8:58 a.m. PST |
A tactic successfully used by Sharpe to divert the bad guys in "Sharpe's Revenge"? |
| 42flanker | 21 Feb 2021 12:22 p.m. PST |
"a pre-decimalization British penny would have been a formidable weapon."
Some troops hadn't been paid for a year, so the likelihood of L.s.d- well, more likely s. or d.- of being available to fire as mitraille seems unlikely. They might have ransacked the local burghers for Dutch coins to use, out of spite. |
| evilgong | 21 Feb 2021 2:54 p.m. PST |
In a battle (c1814-18 ish…) against he Durrani Empire in Afghanistan the Persians used bags of coins as makeshift canister when the ammo ran down. One account of the battle suggests the Afghan leader was wounded in the mouth by such a coin and the battle turned against them in the temporary confusion. |
| Nine pound round | 21 Feb 2021 2:57 p.m. PST |
If we had used this strategy in Afghanistan, we would've gotten better results, and it would have been cheaper. |
 Bobgnar | 21 Feb 2021 7:41 p.m. PST |
I wonder if that event is what gave Alice the idea of shooting quarters from her shot gun at the axman.
YouTube link |
| Au pas de Charge | 21 Feb 2021 9:36 p.m. PST |
…the Afghan leader was wounded in the mouth by such a coin … Talk about putting your money where your mouth is. |
| 42flanker | 22 Feb 2021 2:01 a.m. PST |
Tom Hanks fires dimes from his shotgun at the baddies in his latest, "News of the World." |
| Shagnasty | 22 Feb 2021 9:28 a.m. PST |
The current pound coin would make a lethal projectile. |
| Zephyr1 | 22 Feb 2021 9:48 p.m. PST |
Just another example of gov't throwing money at a problem… |
paints brigs for the British fleet.
