Featured Gambits

Defensive Position + Improvised Artillery

In the long 18th Century, few weapons were as decisive as heavy artillery.  Often the side which brought more cannon to the field carried the day, bombarding their foes and scattering whole platoons. With its origins in the Renaissance, an entire system of military engineering had been devised to support (and thwart) artillery, including huge earthen breastworks and star forts, and more temporary fortifications such as wooden palisades and blockhouses.

The defensive position spell gives players a powerful, if temporary tool to survive enemy artillery in the field where no fortifications are available. Meanwhile, improvised artillery is a temporary offensive option to batter enemy defenses and counterfire at range. Throughout history, soldiers often attempted—with mixed results—to supplement their lack of cannon in creative ways. At Rugeley’s Mill, Colonel William Washington made a fake cannon (a so-called Quaker Gun) out of a painted log to trick a small enemy fort into surrendering without a shot.

GMBinder Link:  field engineering