UNIT CARD TEMPLATE
Unit Name: Iron Guard Artillery
Credits: Artillery Emplacement, Field Guns Firing, Artillery Barrage
Consolidation Thread:
Unit Description: One of the most well-organized branches of the revolutionary military of the Iron Cult, the Iron Guard Artillery is a group of specialist individuals, technicians and military personnel who handle and operate the artillery pieces produced by the ever-ravenous Iron Cult factories. A usual artillery section consists of some 5 to 20 cannons, with four to six crew for each piece. Their numbers vary depending on the environment and nature of the Section deployed. Usually, the Siege artillery sections, much more devastating weapons yet heavy and few in number, require far more crew to be operated efficiently, while field guns can be operated even with a handful of crew.
ATTRIBUTES
- Main Stats
- Armour: Low
- Gear: Gambeson or cloth armour and kettle hats is the typical gear worn by gun crews.
- Speed: Low
- Melee: Low
- Weaponry: Makeshift weaponry, such as wooden tools, knives and staff.
- Ranged: Extreme
- Weaponry: Black Powder Cannon barrels capable of engaging targets with relative accuracy from several hundred meters.
- Morale: Average
- Size: Low (4-12 members)
- Number: Regional
- Recruitment & Replenishment: The Artillery is crewed by loyal Cultists from Fuernburg, who have underwent a three month trainning on the use and maintenance of the artillery type they are assigned to, before sent out to serve in their respective detachments.
- Armour: Low
- TvM Requirement: 4v1
Strengths
- Creeping Barrage. The Artillery Section can perform a calibrated bombardment in the battlefield, allowing the infantry to follow up close behind the shelling, which in turn enables the infantry or cavalry to engage the enemy position or army right after a brutal pounding.
- Fields of Fire. The Iron Guard Artillery best performs when in large numbers and entrenched or elevated positions, providing chaotic fields of fire that can disorient charges or break advances from the enemy, kiting the battle to the Cult's favour.
-Blackpowder Arsenal. The Artillery can make use of a variety of munition for their guns, gaining certain boons during battles.
- Shrapnel Shells. Round shells filled with hundreds of iron balls and black powder, the Shrapnel Shells explode upon impact, launching tinny projectiles to all directions in their immediate proximity. This type of munition makes short work of infantry or cavalry ranks, being extremely effective when shot against closed ranks.
- High Explosive Shells. The High Explosive Shells are pointy projectiles who can penetrate through basic defenses and explode on impact, creating tremendous blastwaves that shatter stone.
Weaknesses
- Slow Moving. To transport such heavy weapons of war is a gargantuan task which can be heavily impacted by the weather conditions. Without support troops to guard the artillery positions, pretty much any type of troops could potentially outmanuveur and outrun them.
- More Science than war. The artillery crews are susceptive to panic, as none of them are really trainned as soldiers. In the case the Iron Cult's artillery positions are exposed, any respectable charge or contact with enemy troops could break the formation entirely.
- Blank Shots. When using Shrapnel munition in muddy or snowy environments, it is rather frequent to have the shell be planted into the soil with the surrounding mud or snow swallowing the explosion, resulting to the effectiveness of the shell being limited to whether or not it landed on someone's head.
- Heavy Wagons. The heavier the artillery the heavier its loadout. When it comes to High Explosive Shells, large wagons are required to move the rather sizeable crates that contain the munition. If the weather is too harsh, or the environment is too rough, there is a possibility that this type of ammunition cannot make it to the battlefield in time.
Historical Information
During the Iron Cult rebellion, a significant proportion of the military budget of all warring parties went to the arms race that continued throughout the engagement. In the case of the Iron Cult, it was noted that industrializing the artillery and managing to engage the enemy from miles away provided a major advantage in the fields of battle, especially during the central Erovan winter.
Artillery became means of preserving distance with the foe and in some cases, even forcing a gap between the two opposing lines via the use of shrapnel or explosive shells. After the conclusion of the Rebellion, the Iron Cult begun a long research and development of their weaponry, turning more and more to the black powder to gain an edge over their sometimes magick-inclined foes.
Led by professional and experienced commanders, the Iron Guard's artillery Sections are a significant asset to the Cult's war machine, earning a reputation during the long battles in Oldenn Province during the Iron Cult's first major expansionist campaign.
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