Bavarian Equipment Notes, Artillery
This post briefly considers the field artillery available to the Bavarians, how it was deployed during the Franco-Prussian War, and how it might be represented on the wargaming table.
General Notes
The version of steel-barrelled rifled breach-loading (RBL) field guns manufactured by Krupp are often designated by the letter C followed by a year, eg C64 (or as C/64).
At first, the caliber of the Krupp guns was determined by a weight in pounds, with this measurement being of an iron sphere that would notionally fit inside the barrel. In the 1860s the designation became by caliber, measured by the diameter of the bore in centimetres or millimetres.
The Krupp C?? designation sometimes seems to be assumed to refer to a specific size of gun barrel (ie, a 4-pounder or a 6-pounder, etc) but this was not the case, as it merely referenced the model year, not a particular calibre, as there could be multiple calibres of guns within one year.
For example:
- The C64 is the oft-used nomenclature for a 4-pounder field gun of 78.5mm (notional 8cm) calibre but later models include the C67 and C73
- The C67 is the often used nomenclature for a 6-pounder field gun of 91.0mm (notional 9cm) calibre but later models include the C73
Note the potential for confusion, with C67 and C73 being each used as the nomenclature for both 4-pounder and 6-pounder field guns.
By the 1880s, Krupp had adopted 75mm as the caliber for the German army's field and mountain guns, with nomenclature including C77 and C80.
The Feldl gun was a four-barrel repeating gun (contemporary kartätschgeschütz) and thus a forerunner of the machine gun. Introduced in small numbers (initially only 4 per Corps) from October 1870, it wasn’t considered a great success as it lacked the range of the field artillery and was easily jammed (ostensibly a combination of misuse and design fault, as the gravity-fed bullets would misalign if it was moved with loaded magazines). It was operated using a large crank wheel, which when turned by hand served to activate the loading and firing mechanisms.
Note that Bavarian artillery regiments comprised foot (walking) and riding (horse) batteries.
Wargaming Composition
For wargaming purposes, field guns are categorised as follows:
- 4-pounder = light
- 6-pounder = medium
- 12-pounder = heavy
In the ‘Rebels & Patriots’ rules, a gun crew comprises 4 removable figures increasing to 6 if a limber is included. When using a limber model, as the one or more mounted drivers are fixed into position such that they cannot be separately removed, a house rule is to ignore the drivers when calculating the removable crew of 6 (should this 6 crew all be killed then the limber model is simply removed from the table as the drivers are deemed to have fled, etc).
Foot Artillery
By October 1870 the Bavarian OOB is showing batteries of:
4-pounders
- In their 1866 range, North Star Military Figures sell a Krupp that is described as a 4-pounder RBL field gun (but cannot be a C67, which post dates the scope of this 1866 range)
- In their 1870/71 range, Foundry Miniatures sell a Krupp which is undesignated, merely being described as a field gun but being a 25mm figure range is likely to be too small for this project
- In their 1870/71 range, Perry Miniatures sell a Prussian Krupp that is designated as a C67, which is described as a 4-pounder RBL field gun
6-pounders
- In their 1866 range, North Star Military Figures sell a Krupp designated as a C61, which is described as a 6-pounder RBL field gun
- In their 1870/71 range, Foundry Miniatures sell a Krupp which is undesignated, merely being described as a 90mm field gun but being a 25mm figure range is likely to be too small for this project
- In their 1870/71 range, Perry Miniatures sell a Prussian Krupp that is undesignated, which is described as a 6-pounder RBL field gun
- The Krupp formerly sold by Outpost Games (and now available from Badger Games in the USA) was originally designed as a 75mm gun but is described as being suitably representative of any Krupp in the 60-90 mm range, with its potential use somewhat dictated by how it compares for size on the wargaming tabletop
12-pounders
- A source is to be determined but it could be any larger smooth bore cannon, as despite the later rifling it was still muzzle-loaded (and so potentially a Perry Miniatures plastic from their ACW range, painted with a brass barrel or a Bavarian 12-pounder from their Napoleonic range)
- In their 1870/71 range, Baccus sell a Zoller brass muzzle-loader that is described as Reserve Artillery, but being a 6mm figure rsnge for this project the only use is as a reference
Limbers
In their Bavarian Napoleonic range, Perry Miniatures has a 4-horse limber and drivers that can be converted to 1870s style.
Riding Artillery
All wore riding breeches; instead of shoulder wings tunics had epaulettes with scales; officers and sergeants had swords; ORs did not carry packs; all crew travelled on horse or by limber; in 1870, red short plumes were removed from helmets due to the risk of confusion with French gunners.
By October 1870 the Bavarian OOB is showing batteries of:
4-pounders
- Gun options as per foot artillery though the guns would have had riding seats
Machine Guns
- No known source in 1/56 scale but the author has converted a 3D model of an 8-barrelled Nordenfeldt into a 4-barrelled Bavarian Feldl
Limbers
For the 4-pounder field gun, use as per foot artillery.
For the machine gun, apparently a small 4-horse French limber was used. The French in Egypt Napoleonic range by Perry Miniatures has a candidate for conversion (perhaps just using the two horses without mounted drivers, to distinguish it from the field guns).