Howitzers

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LordRoss
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu May 14, 2020 8:33 pm

Howitzers

Post by LordRoss »

I am planning on recreating Vimiero battle soon.

I was thinking of how effective the shrapnel form the howitzer guns were against the French in that battle, and whether there was any rules or advice I could use to recreate this different form of artillery.

I couldn’t really see anything in the rules or FAQ unless I’m missing it somewhere. Perhaps it’s too irrelevant, but I do want to give them something to make it feel different to usual 6pdr/9pdr guns.

Maybe ability to shoot over heads of battalions in front, but restricted to close and effective range, and maybe they would benefit from an extra casualty dice or modifiers on artillery firing table? Well actually I don’t really know if they are any more deadlier than usual guns. But they sound nasty at least.
bellebsc
Posts: 284
Joined: Mon Jul 09, 2018 10:57 am

Re: Howitzers

Post by bellebsc »

Hi mate.

Try this. We use it and it come from the Border Reivers Wargames Society.

SHRAPNEL OR SPHERICAL CASE SHOT
The British introduced shrapnel or ‘spherical case shot’ from 1808 onwards. This ammunition can only be fired at
effective or long range. The British player must announce whether shrapnel is loaded before rolling for hits. If a DT
(Discipline Test) is scored then the number of hits is read off the close-range battery fire row on the Firing Casualty
Table and an extra CD (Casualty Dice) is rolled. Any hits with shrapnel that do not inflict a DT are halved.


Ricky
LordRoss
Posts: 8
Joined: Thu May 14, 2020 8:33 pm

Re: Howitzers

Post by LordRoss »

Thanks for advice!

Yea I certainly think utilising discipline tests in some manner sound right approach.

Although upon research, I now realise that Howitzers are actually only 1 or 2 or the 6 guns usually grouped together. So maybe it’s too low level to be considered as a separate entity.

In my head I was thinking having unit of 6pdrs on vimiero hill and a unit of howitzers with Acland. But I see I may have got carried away a bit with the thought of shrapnel devastation.

I aim to use 2 guns to represent 6. I guess I will just get normal 6/9pdrs, as one howitzer model will seem odd being half the unit. And then possibly just state out loud the type of shot being used as you recommended.
Archdukek
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Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2013 11:49 pm
Location: Linlithgow, West Lothian, UK

Re: Howitzers

Post by Archdukek »

Hi Lord Ross,
I’d need to check my sources when I’m home, but if memory serves one of the advantages of spherical case shot or shrapnel was that it could be fired from a gun and was not restricted to howitzers. That was certainly the case later but I think it applied in the Napoleonic Wars too.

So Ricky’s suggested rule could still be useful to you.
John
Tomm
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Joined: Mon Apr 22, 2019 8:58 pm

Re: Howitzers

Post by Tomm »

Slightly different thing iirc. Spherical case was more effective than standard case because it had lots of musket balls in it as well as the bursting charge.
AlexCossack
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2023 5:50 pm

Re: Howitzers

Post by AlexCossack »

Well, most people do not understand that the usefulness of howitzers was due to three things (other than the late invention of shapnel shells by the British). Note that napoleonic howitzers fired with the bore pretty parallel to the ground and NOT with the barrel pointing up into they sky, like modern howitzers.

#1 the howitzer was a large bore, short bore barrel and could fire a hell of a lot of cannister balls compared to a cannon.
#2 the barrel was short and the recoil was less, so it could be loaded quickly. #1 &#2 made it great for knocking back charges of infantry and cavalry. Usually the howitzers were positioned on the flanks of the artillery (4 cannons usually) position, where it serves as protection against charges (cavalry) from the flanks as well as cross fire against direct attacks on the center of the position.

A cannonball from a cannon is shot at a high velocity, has a high mass for its diameter. The high velocity and mass means that it looses very little energy to air resistance and thereby maintains its kinetic energy (KE= 1/2 m x v x v) for a long time. So if you have the bore parallel to the ground, it stays at the same height (or only sinks a bit at long distances). You like flat level ground, and hope to bounce the cannonball into the feet of the enemy. IF THE ENEMY IS HIDING BEHIND A THICK STONE WALL OR THE CREST OF A HILL. then the ball is stopped by the wall or sails harmlessly overhead.

A howitzer shell is shot at a low velocity, with a low mass. So it takes a long time to reach the same distance downrange. It also has a lower kinetic energy (low mass, low velocity) so it bleeds speed quickly due to the air resistance. Now here is a bit of physics about gravity that even HS and college physics students (and most non-science people) don't get. The amount of "sink" downwards depend upon the TOTAL TIME of FLIGHT. The shell does NOT move downwards at the same speed (feet downwards per second). The acceleration downwards (32 feet per (second x second) is the same but it speeds up downwards more as time goes on.

(A simple illustration can be seen at (https://phys.libretexts.org/Bookshelves ... ng_Objects). Look at the "position verus time" figure. (n.t. the table above it- they didn't put in the times= should be 0.sec, 2 sec. and 3. sec. Their example starts with "the barrel aimed upwards a bit).

What this means is that if there are enemy hiding behind the crest of a hill, or behind a town or in a slight hollow in the land, if you shoot with a cannon, you shell will either hit something and not the enemy, or it will sail overhead. The can stay there all day and thumb their nose at you. When you shoot the howitzer at them the shell is sinking rapidly when it gets to their range and drops down on them (and hopefully the fuze bursts when the shell drops at their feet). This is not a mortar, and mortars can also get a shell on the other side of the hill.

For a real world test, do the following. Put a small clindrical waste paper basket of about 6 " top diameter on the floor about 6 feet away. Then sit down in a chair, with a bunch of ping pong balls and a golf balls. Try to throw the golf ball into the can. The only way that works is if you throw it like a mortar shot. The ping pong ball will work.
AlexCossack
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2023 5:50 pm

Re: Howitzers

Post by AlexCossack »

Remember the "mystery" at Borindino where the French howitzers could hit the Russian unicorns but not vice versa? Both were using "fixed ammo" and the Russian guns had a longer barrel, which gave a high muzzle velocity. They couldn't get as much "sink" on their shots. (Russian unicorns were designed to have a longer range, which better suited the flatter eastern European landscape).

Also, if you look up detailed descriptions of the details of Napoleonic howitzers, you have your modern "experts" mocking the fact that the howitzers were designed to have a modest (30 degrees ?) ability to elevate the barrel. Sorry, they were not used as mortars, and such modern "experts" are ignorant and arrogent.
AlexCossack
Posts: 7
Joined: Mon Jan 30, 2023 5:50 pm

Re: Howitzers

Post by AlexCossack »

Remember the "mystery" at Borindino where the French howitzers could hit the Russian unicorns but not vice versa? Both were using "fixed ammo" and the Russian guns had a longer barrel, which gave a high muzzle velocity. They couldn't get as much "sink" on their shots. (Russian unicorns were designed to have a longer range, which better suited the flatter eastern European landscape).

Also, if you look up detailed descriptions of the details of Napoleonic howitzers, you have your modern "experts" mocking the fact that the howitzers were designed to have a modest (20 degree") ability to elevate the barrel. Sorry, they were not used as mortars, and such modern "experts" are ignorant and arrogant.
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