By Mike Kirby.

During the eighteenth century, there was very little in the way of standardisation when it came to artillery pieces. There was a great variation of size of shot fired, length of barrel and weight of metal used in the barrel’s construction. For instance an Austrian ‘light’ 6pdr gun model 1753, had a barrel weighing 912 pounds whereas the British ‘light’ 12pdr gun had 1,088 pounds of metal and the French 4pdr field gun barrel weighed 1,265 pounds. Generally speaking, it was not the weight of shot that determined the effectiveness of the piece but the weight, length and construction of the barrel coupled with its ability to withstand an adequate charge of gunpowder.

Further complications arise when attempting to decipher howitzer weights because some nations used a theoretical stone shot to describe the projectile weight not the actual weight of the shell, furthermore the Russians used their own system of measure known as the ‘pud’ which had no equivalent in the west. Due to this proliferation of calibre’s and gun sizes, it is not surprising that it has sometimes proved difficult to determine how to classify artillery pieces within the constraints of the Volley & Bayonet system. Listed below are the available classifications and the more common pieces used in this period by the major protagonists.

Very Light: 

Small guns generally of less than 1 pound shot weight. Howitzers of 4pdr shell weight such as those issued to Austrian Croat units. Elephant and camel mounted jingals, zambureks and the equivalent European swivel guns.

Light: 

Guns of 3 pound shot weight used in batteries as light field artillery. Prussian ‘chambered’ 6pdr guns, British ‘short’ or ‘light’ 6pdr guns and French 4pdr ‘Swedish’ guns. Included in this class are the Russian regimental pieces attached to some cavalry units and light howitzers of less than 4 inch calibre. The Russian ‘Shuvalov’ oval-bore piece is placed in this class due to its short range and dubious effect firing anything other than canister rounds.

Field: 

The great bulk of guns used in batteries as field guns. Typical of these guns are the British ‘long’ 6pdr, Prussian, Austrian and Russian ‘heavy’ 6pdrs and the French ‘Ordinaire’ 4pdr. Also included in this class are the British ‘light’ 12pdr and Prussian ‘chambered’ 12pdr guns. Medium howitzers of 5 inch and larger including the Prussian and Austrian 7pdrs. Russian field ‘unicorn’ pieces may combine the functions of both gun and howitzer.

Heavy: 

All heavy guns firing shot of 12 pound weight, not already covered by the lower classes. Most nations possess guns of this weight, typical examples are the Prussian ‘Brummer’ and ‘Osterreich’ 12pdr guns. Howitzers of 8 inch calibre and over, including most ‘German’ howitzers described as 20pdrs and above, and including the Prussian heavy 10pdr howitzer and the largest of the Russian ‘unicorn’ gun-howitzers.

Siege:

All guns of 16, 18, 24 and 32 pound shot weight normally used against enemy ships and fortifications, occasionally used in the field such as the Prussian 24pdr gun.

Battalion Guns:

All 2 or 3pdr guns used in pairs to provide close support to infantry battalions. Due to limited ammunition supply and tactical doctrine these pieces are factored in to the ‘battalion gun rule’ in the VnB system. This class also includes the smallest Russian ‘secret’ howitzers when issued to infantry battalions, British and Prussian ‘light’ 6pdr guns and Prussian ‘light’ 7pdr howitzers attached to infantry battalions for this purpose. It is interesting to note that in most major European armies, battalion guns were attached to their parent battalions in pairs. The French army was the exception to this rule, as it took an order from Belle-Isle, the War Minister at the start of the Seven Years’ War for each battalion to be granted one light 4pdr ^[1] . It took a further year for the French to even begin to issue a second piece to their hard pressed infantry, and it is doubtful if this was fully achieved before the peace. For this reason, it may be justifiable to reduce the effectiveness of the French battalion guns in the early years of the war. This may be achieved in the VnB rules by making each hit subject to a ‘saving throw’.

Brigaded Artillery:

It was during our period that the artillery of the leading nations underwent some radical changes in its use on the battlefield. At the beginning of the War of Austrian Succession, guns were used in small batteries of around 6 pieces or distributed across the line of battle in pairs. It was only in the final years of that war and during the Seven Years’ War that guns were organised into ‘brigades’ and deployed on the battlefield under some sort of centralised command. This resulted in the concentration of artillery at crucial points on the battlefield, a higher level of command and control than before and generally an increasingly high level of professionalism in the service.

Frederick the Great was an exponent of the use of large batteries of heavy guns in order to soften up the enemy before an attack and during the assault these guns would use their mobility to roll forward and support the infantry. It was also at this time that large batteries, usually consisting of 10 or 12 pieces, were assigned to infantry or mixed ‘columns’ or ‘divisions’. The use of large batteries attached to infantry divisions was ably demonstrated both by the Russians at Kunersdorf 1759 and the Prussians at Liegnitz in 1760, where 10 gun batteries were allocated to every 4 or 5 battalions.

In the Volley & Bayonet rules, ‘brigaded’ artillery is represented by stands of 2 or more SP’s and are known as artillery ‘battalions’ whereas small batteries are represented by 1SP stands. In the Volley & Bayonet rules, it is suggested that all artillery prior to 1750 are deployed in 1SP battery stands, whereas after this date most nations’ artillery may be deployed in 2SP ‘brigaded’ stands. Some nations, such as the Reichesarmy, may not be allowed to use ‘brigaded’ stands even in the later years of the period.

Eastern Artillery:

Due to being Incompetently Handled, all Eastern irregular artillery, irrespective of weight or calibre, are classed as field artillery for the purposes of fire combat, and as siege artillery for movement. Futhermore, these nations may find their guns deployed ‘wheel to wheel’ in stands of up to 4SP but due to low levels of crewing and incompetent handling will still not be entitled to fire these as ‘brigaded’. In addition, crews will invariably be classed as Militia.

Pre-Professional Artillery:

It should also be noted that prior to 1750, many armies still relied upon civilian contractors or non-uniformed auxiliaries to provide the horse teams to move the guns onto the battlefield. Once positioned therefore, it was extremely rare to find these pieces provided with mobility in the heat of battle. The pieces themselves were also very heavy, for the weight of shot compared with later castings and were mounted upon heavy carriages that were difficult to move around the battlefield. It was also common practice in the early period to harness the teams of horses in ‘tandem’ resulting in very long and un-manoeuvrable columns of artillery. In order to reflect the clumsiness of all artillery in the early years, and of some nations in later years also, artillery may be classed as Pre-Professional Artillery (PPA).

Specialised Artillery:

Some artillery units may contain a significant proportion of howitzers. These have been marked in the orders of battle with the weight of shot plus a suffix of ‘-How’. It is suggested that one D6 worth of high angle (HA) fire can be used by these units in lieu of one D6 of normal fire if required. There are a few rare examples of ‘pure’ howitzer batteries during this period, such as the Prussian battery at Burkersdorf. In these rare cases, all of the unit’s available dice may be used as high angle fire. These batteries are named in the orders of battle as ‘Howitzer Battery’.

The following chart is an attempt to clarify national capabilities.

1. Royal Ordonnance, 20 January 1757.

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