Battle wagons

[AlanYork]

How do you attack with them?

Seems to me that if you just stand still with a line of them you're going to be ignored and/or outflanked and probably lose so you have to be aggressive with them but how?

Assuming you have BGs of 2 they can turn 90 degrees in their own "footprint" from 2 wagons side by side to one behind the other to shoot but then half the unit is doing nothing as they can't shoot from back ranks.

Next move an expansion would sort that out but even if the enemy was kind enough to stand still and allow you to do this, it still requires the BGs to have 80mm between each other to allow expansion of back ranks into the gaps.

They seem about as much use as a chocolate teapot so can someone enlighten me?

[chrisrivers13]

Worse yet they don't seem to fight well against anything in close combat.

[gozerius]

Battlewagons are deliberately unwieldly because aside from some fantasy theories, they were static defenses in virtually every battle in which they appeared. The typical medieval BW based on the Hussite model formed a lager which provided a haven for the foot against the opposing knights. Like the early Swiss, most Hussite victories can be ascribed to choosing a good defensive position, generally on a hill, and waiting for the enemy to attack. Then after the knights had been defeated, the mounted and sometimes the foot would rush out of the enclosure to pursue the demoralized enemy. So to win with BW you have to think of them as semi-mobile forts as opposed to tanks. If you try to get too fancy with them you will lose. They cannot be used offensively, so you have to develop a plan to put their good defensive characteristics to work. It is unlikely that in an open tournament environment they will do well. But in period they can be useful. They are best against mounted and can provide good flank protection. I like to have a BG of them on either flank of a line of armored defensive spear. Now that the German City Leagues gives the option for undrilled armored spear, my line has gotten cheaper.

[AlanYork]

Oh well.... I had a few spare crossbowmen and general medieval types kicking about the place. I thought I might get myself some wagons as they are easy enough to paint and that would form the basis of a Hussite army. It's not much fun standing about and losing though as I can't imagine any of my wargaming friends would be so kind as to attack my wagon line straight on.

[ShrubMiK]

Use them in combination with terrain?

[deadtorius]

Obviously you need to work on your taunting skills to force your opponent to attack your wagon line just to show you up. Perhaps if you could find some figs bent over with bare bottoms facing your opponents side of the table they will become so enraged that they will make a mistake. If all else fails threaten to let loose a white bunny that will sever your opponents head unless he attacks your wagon line first.

[Polkovnik]

Obviously you need to work on your taunting skills to force your opponent to attack your wagon line.

Which you can do if the opponent has knights. Put LF or LH in front of his knights and he will be forced to charge. The trick then is to pull his knights into shooting range of the warwagons.

[madaxeman]

Obviously you need to work on your taunting skills to force your opponent to attack your wagon line just to show you up. Perhaps if you could find some figs bent over with bare bottoms facing your opponents side of the table they will become so enraged that they will make a mistake. If all else fails threaten to let loose a white bunny that will sever your opponents head unless he attacks your wagon line first.

Peter Pig sell these figures.