"Attached Guns?" Topic

Who actually uses brigade/battalion guns in their Horse & Musket games?

The idea goes back at least to Gustavus Adolphus in the TYW: light guns attached directly to infantry brigades for close support. They then keep appearing through the ECW, SYW and into the Napoleonic era with things like Austrian brigade guns and Russian attached artillery.

But on the tabletop, are they worth bothering with?

Do they add useful flavour and tactical choices or just extra clutter and bookkeeping?

I admit to using them because, as wargamers, we all know that "historically questionable" is no match for "looks splendid on the table."

How do your rules handle them?

-integral to infantry units?
-separate artillery stands?
-abstracted away entirely?

And historically, were they genuinely effective weapons—or more of a morale boost and status symbol?

Volley and Bayonet has them integral to the base and they provide an extra shooting die.

Must admit I don't use them for the reasons cited above – for units that had them we factor them into the shooting quality

I believe Rank and File had them represented and integral, and they gave +1 in shooting.

If you _don't_ make them integral but instead represent them individually, wargamers being wargamers will try to concentrate the fire of several regiments' guns onto a single target, in contravention of historical practice and capabilities. Best to factor them into the infantry's strength and firepower, as noted above.

It might be interesting to have a light artillery piece on an infantry stand in V&B, but I don't know of a rule set unless it would be a skirmish level set.

In large games more table eye candy

In smaller games they can play a role

A firepower modifier and mark with a spare artillerymen miniature behind the unit. The actual scale cannon on its base would take up too much tabletop space.

In our 1980-90s era "Fire and Discipline" series which is a 1/10-20 troop ratio system. Attached guns were important.
Tactically they were placed on the flanks of a unit which enforced the weak conjecture point of adjacent units.
Later 1800s British units deployed them as well.

If I have the figures or models, they will be on the table. Otherwise, what's the point of buying and painting them?

In 2 and 6mm, I figue they're factored into stands representing 1,000+ men, but I will sometimes place one on the stand for the look of the thing. In AWI in 28mm at 1:10 or thereabouts, a section of two three-pounders is a real artillery unit.

Not per any rules, butvin a recreation of 7YW battles my Prussians have 1 light battery. So 4 Regiments got a 2 gun detachment. They fired adding to the infantry or if longer range by themselves. In the bunch of battles never noticed much additional casualties caused with them.

With our SYW gaming, each regiment is allowed one regimental gun (a single model with 2 crew).

The gun fires only with its parent infantry battalion. It adds a single firing die, so scores a hit roughly 50% of the time.

It is lost if the battalion retreats or routs, and abandoned if obstacles such as walls or streams have to be crossed.

Reading through all those limitations, you'll quickly realise regimental guns are not exactly war-winning weapons in our games…

…but they look gloriously SYW on the tabletop.

theminiaturespage.com‌

‌"TMP link
- from a Lobositz game. Regimental gun left, middle.

I put them on the table but factor them into the overall unit firepower. Tbh I do the same with Napoleonic and ACW divisional batteries in army level games as they tend to shoot at the same stuff the infantry are. I just do Corps/Army artillery as separate elements.

But as John says, I've painted the models so I want to use them.

Carnage and Glory has them. We played Austerlitz and the Austrian battalion guns caused a lot of damage. Makes you wonder why they were discontinued in armies.

"Makes you wonder why they were discontinued in armies."

Infantry guns remained in use well 8nto the twentieth century. Some armies (notably The British) preferred to centralise their artillery, but we've always been a funny lot :)

Light artillery were NOT assigned to a battalion's TO&E. They were most commonly provided to use by Brigades. They were "run" by artillery gunners but manned and moved by men from infantry companies. The most misunderstood use by wargamers is to assign them to the battalions (especially with the British!) Doubt me? Please tell me where they appear in ANY Regimental TO&E. I would love to find them part of a Regiment (and would have to appear there before passed on to one of the battalions).

Since Marlborough was also the Chief of Ordinance (an organization external from the military in the WSS) he alone had the power and authority to oversee utilization of all artillery (including naval guns on ships by golly!) to see guns distribute the artillery (and otherwise and less useful) as he saw fit. The idea to push some down lighter calibre guns to the Brigades to help bolster their firepower is a practice found in some other nation's doctrine use as well, but again, seems to be based upon what was on-hand. Remember that they were mainly "pulled" by men as horses and limbers were always in short supply and dedicated (by necessity) to transport the larger/heavier pieces.

So if you are playing your horse and musket periods based upon historical facts, you probably should make the effort to extend that to the use of artillery as well. But hey, the main idea is to have fun while pushing lead across the table.