Thursday 13 December 2012

Lying down

Something that is not made enough of in wargame rules or figures is the fact that Canadians were prone (sorry) to lie down to fire and load - something that seems quite normal to us but was something that was not the norm in the 18th century. Do you have any thoughts on the matter? (Incidentally I don't remember where I found this image - if its you let me know!)

3 comments:

  1. Here was my idea for 28mm:
    1. It certainly should give a modifier due to the increased amount of accuracy to the shot as the ground is supporting the firelock. (say +10cm to medium/long range, and -1 to hit at medium/long range.)

    2. It should also give a modifier for cover (+1 to hit that figure).

    3. It should give a negative modifier for the number of rounds that can be fired/turn. Reloading in the prone with a muzzleloader is far more difficult than standing or kneeling.

    I wrote skirmish rules for my son and I to play Texian Revolution, considered this, but discarded since you have to mark figures in the prone (and don't have to for cover), unless you plann on modeling prone figures as well. Also with my restriction of 1 load/round for smoothbores and 1 load/2 rounds for rifles, prone figures would be firing very infrequently in the prone 1 load/2 or 1 load/4 rounds. Your thoughts?

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  2. I think Canadians may have just been smarter than the average person and should get a +1 to everything ;-) lol

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  3. That's me in the picture, with the Compagnie de Lacorne at Fort Niagara in 2011. We had a member film a skirmish using a head-mounted camera and it came out quite well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jvxqm7z7tyU.

    You make a good point about lying down. Our unit has practised it because it's awkward when you try it for the first time. One trick is to keep your left side as free as possible. You can then easily roll on your back after priming to load the cartridge.

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