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Artillery was an important part of any American Civil War
battle. Artillery batteries are usually attached to divisions, with
some artillery in the Army reserve, although as with Brigades they
can be attached at any level of the chain of command.
Artillery is Fragile when left on its own. Be aware that
if an artillery battery has an enemy unit move "over the top
of it" the battery will be considered destroyed, and removed
from the battlefield. It may get a shot off, but there is no way
that 50 men could stop the smallest brigade from charging them (at
this point the gunners would run for it).
It may, however, manage to limber up and move away before getting
contacted. But it might not. So it is best to always put your artillery
in a position where enemy brigades, both infantry and cavalry, cannot
charge them.
To give orders to your batteries they have to be within command
radius of their commander.
The orders you can give your artillery batteries are:
| Move |
The battery will move to where you order
it to go. Sometimes, as with infantry, it may take several
turns to get there. However, in order for a battery to be
able to move it must be Limbered. As with Brigades where the
battery can move to will be highlighted, and where you want
the brigade to go is indicated by the purple/blue hex. Drag
the red hex to the position you want the battery to move to.
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Limber
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The battery will “hitch up to the horses”
and get ready to move. You can order them to move in the
same turn they have just limbered up.
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Unlimber
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The battery will “unhitch the horses” and get ready to
fire. If a battery did not move, but unlimbered where it
started the turn, it will be able to fire in the same turn.
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Fire
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You can specify what target your battery is to fire at. In
this way you can concentrate your fire from several batteries
onto one target (and really destroy it). When you give this
command all available targets are highlighted on your screen.
The chosen target is highlighted in red. In order to chose
a different target merely “click” on the red hex and “drag”
it to the available target you wish to fire at. The hexes
you can target will be directly ahead of the battery. Thus
where it is facing is important.
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Fire
at will |
When you
give this command the battery will fire at what it considers
is the best target. This is a good command in case you have
no eligible targets but you think one might become available
during the movement phase.
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| Recovery
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This command
is used when a battery has been "silenced". The battery
must limber up and move away. The next turn the battery will
no longer be silenced and can fire again. |
| Turn |
This is the same command
for Brigades in column. Select the direction you want the battery
to face. A battery can turn and fire in the same turn. |
| Resupply |
As with brigades, when an artillery unit runs out of ammunition,
it must resupply before it can fire again. Unlike brigades,
however, an artillery unit cannot fire even at a reduced amount
until it does resupply.
Although this does not apply to artillery firing canister.
That is, firing at an enemy that is within 1 hex range (this
is because gunners used just about anything to throw into
the barrel to fire at short ranges, such as rocks or nails,
and really didn't need special ammunition).
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