Olicana's Peninsular Project: French artillery battery (14:1:18)

[fred]

Very nice, I do like the look of these.

I don't know much about the period, was it usual for the gunners and the riders of the horses to have different uniforms? I'm probably more used to seeing British horse artillery, where everyone wears the same uniform.

[olicana]

Hi Fred,

In the case of French foot batteries of the line, at least, it would appear so. Some pics show the top of the plume in red, but as pom poms were plain blue, I'll stick with this until I hear otherwise.

I doubt Alec over at Front Rank will mind me using this picture from his site of a French artillery limber "Line Limber set 1807 to 1812."

[fred]

Ta, interesting that within the same unit they had such different uniforms. Obviously being on a horse was more important and meant you needed a very big plume!

[von Lucky]

Lovely stuff.

Re. limbers - I usually use the footprint approach. My 15mm Napoleonic French have a 40x80mm limber model for each pair of 40x40mm guns.

I guess it's whatever looks right (subjectively granted) for the amount of models on the table and the size of the table. While you have a large table, you'll have several hundred (eek!) models on that table. Several limbers will get in the way. Personally, I think your one limber per pair is about the right balance in 28mm.

[SteveBurt]

Very nice. Those blue plumes look odd somehow; I think I've always seen the team riders depicted with red plumes.
I recall an old article by Peter Gilder where he had an ACW battery (I think of three guns) which was replaced by a single gun + limber + horse team when limbered. It looked very good.
Generally what I do, being a cheapskate, is paint up teams, and replace the unlimbered battery (usually 3 gun models) with a single team plus one of the guns. Obviously it depends on the rules you are using how many models represent a battery.

[von Lucky]

Oh it's not being a cheap-skate, it's also practical, as in the gun (medieval to moderns) stays on the table and just the limber gets added when the gun is being used (this is what my 15mm medieval and Renaissance armies have in place).

[olicana]

Those blue plumes look odd somehow

They do; as do the light blue coats. I have pictures of guard cavalry with red plumes, all those I have for the line have light blue plumes, sometimes just light blue pom poms, and sometimes light blue plumes tipped red - though I wonder if the latter are for line horse artillery (?).

The thing about the troops of the train is that, if they followed the British pattern, were not always on the muster. The British only raised drivers and horses (at least for foot artillery) when the artillery unit went onto the 'active' list (to save money). The British drivers of foot artillery units also wore a different uniform (so did the Portuguese, with piped pockets and cavalryman's sword). I've pictured my British ones before but, rather than have you search back:

[Jeff965]

Fantastic looking unit

[SteveBurt]

Oh it's not being a cheap-skate, it's also practical, as in the gun (medieval to moderns) stays on the table and just the limber gets added when the gun is being used (this is what my 15mm medieval and Renaissance armies have in place).

In my case, one of the guns stays on the table and has a limber added - the other two are removed. Limbered batteries don't take up that much space.

They get put back on when the battery deploys (and the limber is put behind, as wargamers often forget how much depth a deployed battery took up - caissons were often deployed 100 metres or more behind the gun line)

[olicana]

wargamers often forget how much depth a deployed battery took up

That is true, or wargamers prefer to ignore the fact. Personally I fall into the latter category.

I know that batteries were guns up front, limbers and ready ammo some distance behind, then more reserve ammo even further back, and woe betide any commander who accidentally put troops between front and back to prevent the artillery getting hold of what it needed.

However, it is also a firm belief of mine that depth, especially in games using larger figures (28mm +), is the first thing fudged. I've seen who knows how many battles laid out on tables of magnificent length (16', 20'. 24') but all only six feet deep. Depth, IMHO, is something of a vagary in a wargame, like the time span of a wargame move, best left flexible, stretchable and compressible.

[von Lucky]

Amen! At the end of the day it's a glass of smooth rum that wraps around your brain and makes you enjoy the beautiful things in life.

[SteveBurt]

That is true, or wargamers prefer to ignore the fact. Personally I fall into the latter category.

I know that batteries were guns up front, limbers and ready ammo some distance behind, then more reserve ammo even further back, and woe betide any commander who accidentally put troops between front and back to prevent the artillery getting hold of what it needed.

However, it is also a firm belief of mine that depth, especially in games using larger figures (28mm +), is the first thing fudged. I've seen who knows how many battles laid out on tables of magnificent length (16', 20'. 24') but all only six feet deep. Depth, IMHO, is something of a vagary in a wargame, like the time span of a wargame move, best left flexible, stretchable and compressible.

Oh, I agree. I just like the look of the limbers on the table. It's the same reason I deploy the my infantry two figures deep. A single line of figures may be more to scale, but it looks like a skirmish line.