"Did Soldiers use Grenades in the Mid-Eighteenth Century?" Topic

"…The use of hand grenades is commonly associated with the period just before the Seven Years War: the grenadiers of the 1690s employed grenades in siege combat, and no-one would dispute this. Likewise, it is common knowledge that grenades continued to be employed by naval forces during the eighteenth century. On land, however, it is commonly asserted, that grenades fell out of fashion after the War of Spanish Succession, and played little part in warfare during the Seven Years War or American War of Independence. Evidence shows that this is incorrect. Grenades continued to play an important part in siege warfare throughout this period, and both European and American officers concurred that armies needed to be supplied and equipped with grenades…"

From here
link

Did anyone used them in your 18c Wargames?

If the answer is yes… which are the rules?

Thanks in advance for your guidance…

Armand

Sieges, perhaps.
In the field, no.

I would be hard pressed to see grenades used in the FIW or AWI in the field.
British Grenadiers carried faint mementos of the good old days when they actually used them. Like their caps, or the brass ornamental match case on their belt.

I suspect that even before that, grenadiers did not carry hand grenades as a matter of course. For reasons of convenience and secure storage, bombs would have been issued from the supply train, filled and fused as required- although the reason grenadiers needed to be robust was presumably not just for the throwing of the iron fruit but the need to lug their ration to the point of delivery.

I have several minis of Rogers Rangers carrying or throwing grenades. Haven't been able to track down where that comes from. However, if you were planning a raid on an Indian settlement, French allies, which has a log stockade -- or perhaps a blockhouse -- and cannot drag artillery through the woods to get to it, I think grenades would be a good substitute.

Speaking of Rogers Rangers, I heard the other night Zaboly has a new work coming out.

I'm pretty sure that during the AWI, British Grenadiers put their match cases in storage. Maybe when they put their caps in storage. Weren't grenades sometimes used at sea too?

"I think grenades would be a good substitute."

Somebody would still have to carry them, with the powder, fuses, and match.

Awkward when fording rivers, and noisy, too.

In the French defeat against the Chickasaw fort in the 1730s, the grenadiers are noted for throwing grenades at gates and over walls.

Grenades were certainly used on ships; see the fight between Bon Homme Richard and the Serapis.

And why would protecting powder, fuses, and match be any harder than protecting the gunpowder in your horn or cartridge box?

Conquest Miniatures has three grenade men in their Colonial Rangers blisters. Lovely figures.

Thanks!.

Armand

"When we are commanded to storm the palisades,
our leaders march with fuzees,
and we with hand grenades.
We hurl them from the glacis,
about the enemy's ears.
To the tow, row, row, row, row
of the British Grenadiers."

That pretty much sums up when they get used.

Well, of course!
You got a song! And a darn fine one too!
That's all the proof you need!

Why would protecting powder, fuses, and match be any harder than protecting the gunpowder in your horn or cartridge box?

If you mean when fording, think it through. You're on the river bank: cartridge pouch in right hand, large satchel- with a mere three or four grenades- in the left. Firelock in the other?

(Fuses and match in the teeth; extra powder under your hat?)

Blackbeard's pirates used them to good effect vs. Maynard's men, during the final fight, when he was ultimately killed, in 1718.

Apparently, they wounded, and possibly killed(?) a number of Maynard's men, before/during the final boarding, and fight on deck.