Mobile Artillery

It’s funny, when I first was looking to create my own game (was studying programming to do this); it was to be in 13th century Japan. The whole I idea was purity of weaponry. The finest edged weapons, and most skilled warriors, in endless mortal combat. That was as good as I could imagine any game being (for me).

Shogun came out with a 16th century game, complete with horror of horrors, guns! Well I guessed I could play without them, but soon found that wasn’t really true. In order to be competitive, some firepower was necessary. Slowly I learned to love the gun…

I hated artillery in all of the following eras; that is until they cam out with mobile cannon, especially the horse artillery. The ability that swift maneuvering of this new arm added a real dynamic to the game, and now I am hooked!

So far my favorite has been two French 18 pounders, fully mobile (able to run) and very deadly with shrapnel on level ground. The 18s can have problems on the slopes where the 24 pound howitzers rule, so now I am looking at taking both of these in future games.

I have noticed others doing the same, and thought it might be an interesting topic to explore. I never would have dreamed how much mobile artillery could add to this game (and not that the other arms are diminished), but they have brought new life to Total War battlefield.

Salute!