24-lber Howitzer Foot Artillery (ETW Unit)
Howitzers send shells plunging into enemy formations and over defences, making cover irrelevent.
Overview
Howitzers fall somewhere between guns and mortars, the other main artillery types. They have a limited mobility, like guns. Like mortars, they do not fire straight at the target, but send shots high into the air to plunge down on a target (and over anything in the way). By angling the barrel and changing the propellant charge used, howitzers have an impressive flexibility in shell trajectories. Experienced crews can lob explosive shells and incendiary rounds with great accuracy into a “beaten zone”, making life utterly miserable and very short for anyone within it. In close action, they can fire canister rounds directly into enemy formations, like giant sawed-off shotguns.
The term foot artillery applies because the gunners walk into battle alongside the draft animals. Like all artillery, the rating of these howitzers refers to the nominal weight of shot fired; loading the heavier pieces made for strong gunners!
Historically, howitzers – like many other artillery pieces – were far from standardized weapons in the 18th Century. Shells and spare parts made in one foundry did not always fit another foundry’s pieces, even if the caliber was nominally identical and the two guns were part of the same battery in the field. It took a good deal of effort and argument to get foundries to standardize barrels and ancillary equipment, even in a single country.
Tactics
24-pounder howitzers are an upgrade from 12-pounders, carrying more firepower. They are the heaviest howitzers available to a generic army and are available to all European factions. However, certain nations (such as the French and the Ottomans) have access to even better artillery.Like 12-pounders, 24-pounders have access to carcass shot, and explosive shot in addition to the regular round shot. These two ammunition types are later replaced by quicklime and percussive shells.
Factions
- Great Britain
- United Provinces
- Austria
- Bavaria
- Dagestan
- Gran Colombia
- Courland
- Denmark
- France
- Genoa
- Georgia
- Greece
- Hannover
- Hessen
- Hungary
- Ireland
- Knights of St. John
- Louisiana
- Mamelukes
- Mexico
- Naples & Sicily
- New Spain
- Norway
- Ottoman Empire (ETW Faction)
- Italian States
- Savoy
- Poland-Lithuania
- Portugal
- Prussia
- Quebec
- Russia
- Saxony
- Scotland
- Spain
- Sweden
- Thirteen Colonies
- United States
- Venice
- Westphalia
- Württemberg