Should Gatling Guns be draggable?

[plloyd1010]

We ran into this problem in our last game. We decided tentatively yes, as they have wheels an are only a few hundred pounds. Perhaps they should even have a movement of 1 when limbered, like an infantry gun. Are there any thoughts out there?

[Blackcloud6]

I would say no for two reasons: the ammunition is very heavy and since these are battery units there is the laying in procedure etc.

[plloyd1010]

I have been doing some reading, and I want to revive this dead horse.
18 Gatling guns of the M1895 model were taken to Cuba. 4 were under the command of one Lt. John Henry Parker. He got the job because he had suggested the idea of a Gatling gun detachment and Gen. Shafter (or his staff) said good idea, you do it.

The Gatling gun weighed 170 lbs. and is mounted on a wheeled carriage. This is much heavier than the Colt-Browning machine-gun, but far less than the German 75mm infantry gun, which weighs in at over 850 lbs. in combat. The infantry gun has a limbered movement in PG of 1. So do the 37mm AT guns, they weigh over 700 lbs. So I think they are pushable. The only question in my mind would be how be the amount of ammunition which can be moved with the guns.

Lt. Parker wrote a book, History of the Gatling Gun Detachment, about his command and experience in the war. Here is a telling excerpt:

    "The guns were pushed right up in the hottest place there was in the battle-field...and put into action at the most critical point of the battle... [the guns] so successfully subdued the Spanish fire that from that time to the capture of the practically impregnable position was only eight-and-one-half minutes. The expenditure of ammunition during this time, in which a continuous fire was kept up from three guns, was 6,000 rounds per gun..."

    
Apparently the the Gatling guns are being pushed. A small detachment of the 10th Cavalry may have been helping with the ammunition, but they are not mentioned until after the summit of San Juan Hill is taken.

I at this point intend to treat the Gatling guns as an infantry gun battery, not that it makes a difference in the IA rules. It will come in 2 versions, like some of the counters in the PG extension. One towed and one with a limbered move of 1.

The reason for bring this up again is that I am working on extensions to support Infantry Attacks in Vassal. To Hell with Span and Chihuahua Incident are going to be the first ones. The 1914 and Mouse that Roared. Incidentally, I made a new graphic too.