Wargame Warrior

Napoleonics I am concentrating on 1805 to 1811 (haven't you read my blog?!!!) Most elegant uniforms, French at their height, rest of the world still adapting and responding to the new style of warfare. I have Austrians with a supporting brigade of Russki cavalry. Spanish and English for the Peninsula (and a smattering of Portugese.) And French to face them all. The one constant is that I am trying to stick with very proportionate slim style of figures (epitomised by Alban Minaitures and Eagle Spaniards ) Perry just about fits that look as well. Bicorns are of course the headgear of champions!

will those frenchies do for 1813 and later?

Theoretically no. But as with all uniform changes there was a long period when older styles were still worn. And if you don't know when the Bardin uniform came in you probably don't care!

Spencers rule OK ! 

And he doesn't !

i must admit, bicorns are bloody good target's

Jim at November 19, 2013 at 12:24 PM

i must admit, bicorns are bloody good target's

Not edge-on they're not. Give me a shako to shoot at all day, anything short of the headgear  is plumb on target...

would that be stovepipe or belgic?

Jim at November 19, 2013 at 2:33 PM

would that be stovepipe or belgic?

Just because you've learnt two new terms !

Here's two more: roundshot and cannister

What about Shrapnel and Case ?

Or Volley and Charge ?

grapeshot for me, i prefer close up shotguns

Not really worth a reply, wrong on so many levels.

not to mention mini balls eh

If thats what ails you, I suggest you obtain some help.  It would explain a lot. 

Is this period the highpoint for smoothbore artillery?

i thought that was acw, just before the krupps breechloader of 1870 vintage.

I would argue against ACW as they certainly had some rifled artillery by then and the smallarms had improved tp the extent that cannons no longer dominated as they had in earlier times.

Next big war was the Crimea - 53-56 and the artillery was all smoothbore.  Muskets were mainly rifled on the Brit and french side but still smoothbore on the Sov (they still had some from 1814 !) Bessemer had presented his shell to Nap3 before the war but didn't perfect the steel process until mid 1850's so they wouldn't have made any by the end, Krupp were the first to make anyway see below:

In 1811, Friedrich Krupp founded his cast-steel factory Gusstahlfabrik, but it was his son, Alfred Krupp, who attained notable success. In 1856, Fried. Krupp A.G., produced a 9cm muzzle-loading rifled gun of cast steel, which gave such good results that Prussia adopted steel for making army guns, it being the first country to do so.

The Krupp guns were purchased by the armies of Russia, Austria, and the Ottoman Empire during the 1860s. From the 1870s, they were purchased by countries all over the world. Naval guns were also rapidly developed; from 1863, guns were being manufactured for several navies, including the Austro-Hungarian Navy, Ottoman Empire and Russia.

Napoleonic was the last with massed smoothbore on both sides, so it is probably the highpoint.

I had forgotten about naval guns, certainly they got bigger if not more numerous later on. (Fried Krupp sounds awful, no wonder it took so long to catch on...)

We were still using muzzle loaders at the end of the century, Ordannance Office decided that was the way forward !

Naval guns were a bit weird, at different times went for different types depending on the current 'in' style. Carronades for example-large calibre short ranged muzzle loaders or the new shell type shot (can't remember who designed it), which fired low and flat and didn't set fire to your own ship ! It virtually single handedly spelled the deaathnell for wooden ships, one shot and you were on fire and sinking fast !