Battalion guns...

[Condottiere SOG]

most European battalions had two 3 or 4-pounder guns...has anyone tried adding these to line regiments and playing them in-game?(4 guns per regiment)

[Kaunitz]

I didn't even know that these small calibres exist in ETW. In my custom battles I only get 6 lb. (horse artillery; weight of barrel: ca. 912 lb.) and 12lb (weight of barrel ca. 1790lb.). The latter would have been not exclusively but (before the middle of the century) rather "siege artillery" but is the normal foot-field artillery in E.TW.

I'm just having a look at Duffy's army of Maria Theresia: some Grenzer-Regiments have even been equipped with 1-pounders and 2lb., 2 1/2 lb. and 4lb.-howitzers for some time in 1757 (though it proved to be very ineffective*g*). The austrian-hapsburg regiments seem to have used 3-pounders and 7-pounder-howitzers as regimental artillery (deployed in fours or sixes). It would be cool to have smaller calibres in ETW, but I don't believe that this is possible. I'd then limit movement on the battle map to calibres up to a size of 6lb. All other cannon should be stationary in my opinion (or very, very slow).

But I don't know what you mean with "adding them to batalions"? Simply take 4-6 infantry units (see them as companies, each of several platoons) for a batallion, two to three batalions + imaginary drummers and NCOs for a regiment, and add an artillery-unit to represent batallion guns (although the available calibres are too big...). But I reckon you want something else?

[Condottiere SOG]

OMG!!! you have that book...I am so envious right now...they want to charge $200 here for a new book. I have been wanting that book for 5 years now. I just need to get it. I am a huge fan of Patrick Duffy. I have his 'Army of Frederick the Great'...amongst others...he is probably the best source on the period aside from contemporaries.

To answer your question...I am using near full sized units(ie regiments at 12-1600men strength) so I am interested in realism. Now each battalion in the Prussian Army had two guns(3 or, later, 4pounders) and 700 combatants.

I wonder if you can add guns to a regiment(4) and still have it function as a regiment of infantry. I don't know yet personally because we have not gotten our wireless router for our house. My desktop is having issues connecting to the cable router.

[Kaunitz]

Well, I don't own the book. But I live in Vienna, so there are plenty of libraries (and copy machines) around me .

Wow, 1200-1600 men in a unit? That's a lot and rather cumbersome to move around? I'm not sure, but I think that regiments were rather on an organisational, not a tactical level. Platoons and companies are to small to use as a unit in ETW, batalions are too big - so I stick to infantry-unit sizes of 160 (1,5 companies? ) and 112 for grenadiers at the moment (link).

So you mean that you have the guns on the battle field move and shoot together with the infantry? Or are you refering to the campaign map?

[Condottiere SOG]

On the battlefield...have not tested it yet...

Well, the unit size is not as bad as you think...CA did not make battlefields big enough in my opinion. Nor did they make to campaign map big enough. Of course I am used to M2 TLR campaigns. So everything new is kind of a setback for me.

[Newman55f9]

My area of knowledge is primarily the British army from 1768 - 1783. The British also had battalian guns. Regimental fire could be directed by entire regiment, by two sections of the regiment, or even the company level depending on circumstance. I have never viewed the "regiments" as being actual regiments, but sections. You could always mod artillery men in line infantry uniforms and give them smaller guns to go with your infantry. In north America at least 6 and 12 pounders (and smaller) were by far the most common on the battlefield as the larger guns were so hard to move and more apt to be used for sieges and fortifications. CA has gone for the bigger guns although from looking at the data folders it appears smaller guns may be available. It's too bad CA didn't put ammunition limits on the cannons as that was the biggest limitation on them in battle. Just imagine having to carry a campaign's worth of powder and balls weighing up to 6 pounds. Now imagine having to carry the same amount of shot, but now each ball weighs 24 pounds! In America the baggage train could be 15 miles long. The main reason there were not campaigns in the winter is that there was not enough forage to feed all the animals required to carry all of the baggage.

[Condottiere SOG]

That is good to know...I thank you for your input.