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Post by madmorgan on Feb 19, 2016 22:37:21 GMT
This is just a quick observation on the size of shells. I was looking up pictures of various artillery pieces from WW1. I couldn't help but notice that pictures of 105mm (4") and 155mm (6") guns & howitzers shells were literally man-handled. I figure this important to our game because of the 'munition' or ammo 'tenders' with all those cranes - and those AD pieces with their large crane loading setups. Now, we've all seen some great modeling with those guns (scottwashburn comes to mind), but, my contention is that those very cranes are not necessry. In fact, I'd think that they'd slow loading, where a single man (or two) could easily get the round in place to load. Especially those British Quick Fire guns, with their brass shell casings. Now, theres no need to change anything with those really nice AD models. But, going forward, does anything under say an 8" gun require some kind of crane setup. The picture in the rulebook is a very large seige gun. Comments anyone?
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Post by mikedski on Feb 20, 2016 0:15:25 GMT
I would imagine better idea for the crane is to lift pallets or crates of shells off supply wagons or flivvers.
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Post by loyalist on Feb 20, 2016 1:33:53 GMT
We had that discussion in an earlier thread that I can't find at the moment. Guns up to at least 7.5" caliber were man-handled in WWI. My dad was part of a Canadian coastal gun battery in the early part of WWII and they hand-loaded the 6" naval guns, which were of late 1890s-early 1900s vintage. The conclusion of the discussion was that the cranes on the Heavy Field Guns and Munitions Carrier were superfluous and using them would have been slower than hand-loading. I've omitted them from my heavy artillery and won't be using them on my munitions carrier conversions.
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Post by charleybourne on Feb 20, 2016 8:52:39 GMT
I've always wondered this point, not only from the perspective of relative WW1 pics but several of the crew that come with the gun are carrying shells around!! scottwashburn has a lot to answer for with those awesome models  I think I'll using them like mikedski. They'd be great as part of a loading mechanism for a tower gun or other fixed emplacement. |
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Post by madmorgan on Feb 20, 2016 12:06:19 GMT
Yes, the crane setups are nice for a multitude of other uses, including loading 'static' guns and of coarse for the big seige guns. I do recall you talking about it now loyalist - and its borne out in numerous pictures. At present, my MkIIMA and MkIVA (Conqueror mobile arty) guns are all using the really nice Conqueror ammo trailers - each is battery (3 guns) has one trailer and it functions like the munitions tender in the rulebook. The open trailers work great for things like rockets which I get from 1/72 model and larger plane kits. I also put fuel drums in them as well as water barrels for a fuel tender type. I'm currently using the Conqueror Fuel Tank as a flamethrower per my thread on conversions of the original fuel tenders to MkIId Dragons. I use spare 3" guns from other of their sets, with a paint job they become the flamethrower nozzle on that vehicle.
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Post by scottwashburn on Feb 20, 2016 12:12:52 GMT
Armor piercing shells DO weight more than high explosive shells  |
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Post by madmorgan on Feb 20, 2016 12:14:40 GMT
I'm sure!! I suppose two fellows could manage those easy enough with a sling between them. Kinda like the sling you use to bring in firewood from your pile out back. Well, I do anyway. LOL - looking forward to your book scott. |
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Post by phgamer on Apr 22, 2016 19:44:01 GMT
I know I have manhandled 6" shells. I assumed that was the upper limit. I see the 17cm gun, about 6.7 inches, had an HE shell weight of 150 pounds. I don't see many people manhandling larger than that.
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