By far the hardest element to properly simulate in a Civil War game is the effect and use of artillery, especially if the goal is also to avoid excessive complication. Artillery acts and inflicts losses differently than other forces. It requires numerous special subsystems to handle these differences. On the Civil War battlefield there is the added complication that artillery is a supporting weapon clearly subservient to rifle-armed infantry. This does not mean it is unimportant. Cannons were still powerful weapons, capable of decisive and bloody effect, if used properly.

Artillery is a fragile force. A line of guns without sufficient supporting infantry was vulnerable to capture by enemy lines of battle rushing too close. Also, losses inflicted by guns tended to differ from infantry inflicted losses. At close range, canister and other mass projectile rounds could inflict serious loss. However, long range cannon fire rarely hit more than a handful of men. This is insignificant given the 50 to 100 men per strength point scale of most Civil War games.

Also, artillery tended to limber and leave before enemy infantry closed, especially if unsupported. This was nota morale effect but rather a tactical doctrine. Balancing these various aspects to produce an enjoyable yet accurate portrayal of artillery has been an interesting challenge. It is one that has not yet been completely overcome in any of the Civil War game systems that I play.

In the CWB, artillery, as a supporting arm, needed to be simple and easy to use in keeping with the spirit of the system. The first problern was to avoid the "invulnerable cannon" effect. Infantry had to have some method by which they could punish artillery. At first glance, allowing small arms fire to take out cannon steps seems peculiar given that the average bullet is going to do little damage to a 2000 pound tube and carriage. But cannons are vulnerable three ways: their crews, their horse teams and the guns themselves.

For instance, (and I will go back to Gettysburg, that most exhaustively documented of battles, for my examples) Battery E, 1st Rhode Island Light Artillery reported no guns lost, but did lose 40 horses on July 2nd. The battery was considered wrecked and withdrawn, taking no further part in the fight. This was a net loss of six guns even though none of the tubes themselves were heavily damaged. Similarly, several batteries (both Union and Confederate) reported crew losses that slowed their rates of fire, or forced them to only work some of their guns.

The tubes may have been hard to damage, but they weren't indestructible. Broken trails, snapped axles, damaged wheels, rounds stuck in barrels (a really great job to try and fix) and even a couple of guns that burst or were struck by incoming rounds, rendering the weapons unfit for service, were all reported at Gettysburg.

Officially, the Union reported a net loss of three guns from Smith's battery at Devils Den. In addition, however, at least 59 cannon (approximately 20 gun points) were rendered unserviceable in the battle due to all of the above causes. The Rebels reported at least 26 gun losses as above. Both sides' losses are probably under- reported, especially temporary damages which were fixed thereby allowing the gun to be back in action the next day. Confederate reports are especially sparse in this regard.

The artillery effect that has drawn the most comment from players has been the single type of generic cannon point. Although this loses the flavor of the various types of cannons used, it is a necessary simplification given the already large abstractions being used (ad hoc battalions of 16 guns, etc.). Reintroducing the complication of gun types, each with their own range tables, and inability to combine units easily, would simply muddy the system. Different gun types belong at the regimental level, where all that detail can be given free rein.

Long range guns are to a certain extent explained above but there is a further reason why we simply omitted cannon fire at greater than 10 hexes (2000 yards). Such fire was more of a novelty than an effective tactic, and had no impact given the scale of the game. The imprecision of fuses (a thing General Hunt complained about greatly) and inadequate aiming techniques never allowed long distance shooting to become a significant force. The vast majority of artillery fire took place well within the 10 hex limit.

Optional Rules

There are a couple of optional rules that can be included for artillery.

1. Artillery Refit.

A certain percentage of all gun losses can be fixed and brought back into play just as stragglers can be recovered for infantry units. Apply the following rule:

Keep track of all gun losses by Corps (or Wing or Division, if appropriate.) Up to one third of these losses are eligible to be recovered. An artillery unit refitting must beat least 8 hexes away from any enemy units. Mark a refitting artillery unit as if were a unit recovering stragglers, and all straggler recovery rules apply (except the distance requirement, superceded by the above). Every hour turn, during the straggler recovery segment, roll one die. On a 4- 6, one gun point may be added to the refitting artillery unit. Foreach gun pointerased from the total number lost due to recovery, erase two more points permanently. If less than three gun points have been lost from a corps, no recovery can occur. Lost gun points must be kept track of for each corps separately, and cannot be shifted to another corps.

2. Long range gunfire.

At distances of 7 or more hexes, effective fire against infantry was difficult, and most guns at this distance were used for counter-battery work. In order to reflect this reality, apply a column shift of A for infantry or cavalry in line only (does not apply to mounted or column formations) when fired on by artillery at 7 or more hexes. Note that all the firing cannon must be at a distance of 7 hexes or greater to apply the shift.

3. Capturing Cannon.

When a player forces enemy artillery to retreat and roll on the Gun Loss Table (with troops adjacent or in close combat) it can be assumed that some or all of those lost guns will be captured. Note that this rule applies only to guns lost on the table due to retreats or close combat results. Losses incurred during a player's own movement are not eligible for capture.

After the enemy player rolls on the Gun Loss Table to determine how many gun points are removed from his affected unit, the attacking player also rolls and consults the Gun Loss Table. This second number represents the number of usable gun points captured. If the second roll is higher than the first, only as many guns as were lost can be captured.

Captured guns should be recorded and may be used to replace friendly gun losses. They may he added to artillery units under the same conditions as described in the Refitting Artillery Rule. Captured guns need not be rolled for but instead are added automatically, at a rate of no more than one point per unit per hour turn. Captured guns could go to replace losses within the artillery of the capturing corps first, but may be used by the rest of the army if the capturing corps has no losses or has replaced them all. The Captured Gun Rule was devised by Rod Miller.

4. Greater Artillery Vulnerability.

Artillery may always be fired on by infantry or dismounted cavalry no matter what it's current position in a stack.

When using this rule, it is strongly recommended that players also use the artillery refit rule #1 above, and that they change the ratio of refitted to permanently lost guns to 1 for 2, instead of 1 for 3. This will produce more realistic temporary losses in guns, simulating the greater likelihood that the guns will pull out before getting overrun, but not be permanently eliminated.

Thunder At The Crossroads revised losses.

In order to reflect various damaged gun or depleted crew losses, the following step losses should be applied to Artillery in Thunder.

Unit	Gun Point Losses
	2nd Day/ Little Round Top	3rd Day	4th Day
Union
1 Corps	2	3	3
2 Corps	0	0	4
3 Corps	0	4	4
5 Corps	0	1	1
6 Corps	0	0	0
11 Corps	2	2	2
12 Corps	0	0	0
Artillery Res	0	5	5
Cav Corps	0	0	0
Confederate
1 Corps	0	1	3
2 Corps	1	2	3
3 Corps	2	2	3
Cav Division	0	0	0

The above losses should be subtracted from any artillery units of the appropriate corps at start of the scenario in question, owning player's choice. Losses may be distributed equally among all units or all removed from one unit, as desired.