rebel15nc
Member
I have almost finished playing the main battle scenario of Sharpsburg (That’s Antietam to you Yankees). As the South, I have run completely out of artillery ammo for the first time ever in a game. I can understand my army running out of ammo but I now realize that the current rules do not simulate the issue very well. For instance, A P Hill’s Division is just arriving from Harper’ Ferry. He has arrived with several artillery batteries that also have no ammo. Now, I am quite sure that Hill would have left the guns way behind if they had no ammo. The easy fix of this laughable situation is to have the overall Ammo level increase when Hill arrives. (Or when any other major reenforcements arrive in general)
A better fix would be to have the current supply wagons carry artillery ammo just like they now currently carry small arms ammo.
If that will not work, how about having several new units per army that would just carry the artillery ammo? These could be referred to as Supply Trains if you like. Perhaps you could have one per division or one per Corps.
Either way, the current rules for ammo do not reflect CW reality all that well. My understanding is that batteries in general would normally limber up and move to the rear for resupply of their limbers when they ran low on ammo. As an example, consider E.P. Alexander on July 3, 1863 reporting to Longstreet during the artillery fire before the Picket / Pettigrew / Trimble assault: He told Longstreet that some of the Union batteries on Cemetery Ridge had been driven off by his fire and now was the time to advance. In reality, the Union guns were going to the rear for ammo and were to be replaced by some other guns.
A better fix would be to have the current supply wagons carry artillery ammo just like they now currently carry small arms ammo.
If that will not work, how about having several new units per army that would just carry the artillery ammo? These could be referred to as Supply Trains if you like. Perhaps you could have one per division or one per Corps.
Either way, the current rules for ammo do not reflect CW reality all that well. My understanding is that batteries in general would normally limber up and move to the rear for resupply of their limbers when they ran low on ammo. As an example, consider E.P. Alexander on July 3, 1863 reporting to Longstreet during the artillery fire before the Picket / Pettigrew / Trimble assault: He told Longstreet that some of the Union batteries on Cemetery Ridge had been driven off by his fire and now was the time to advance. In reality, the Union guns were going to the rear for ammo and were to be replaced by some other guns.