American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)
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Buck and Ball
http://www.wargame.ch/board/acwgc/viewtopic.php?f=144&t=21145		 Page 1 of 1
Author:  mihalik [ Sat Jan 19, 2019 3:54 pm ]
Post subject:  Buck and Ball
I'm playing the 7-day Peninsula scenario and noticed that muskets now have the same effect as rifles at close range. Is there a rationale for this?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buck_and_ball
Author:  Christian Hecht [ Sun Jan 20, 2019 1:19 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Buck and Ball
Isn't the musket in the CW series usual depicting a rifled musket?
The buck & ball load seems to have been used by smoothbore muskets only and according to the article only "...into the early days of the American Civil War."
Author:  mihalik [ Sun Jan 20, 2019 8:23 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Buck and Ball
C. Hecht wrote:
Isn't the musket in the CW series usual depicting a rifled musket?
The buck & ball load seems to have been used by smoothbore muskets only and according to the article only "...into the early days of the American Civil War."

Hi,
I'm pretty sure the musket in the PDT is the smoothbore musket due to the range of 2. I think the rifled musket is considered a rifle in the PDT.
Author:  KWhitehead [ Sun Jan 27, 2019 12:31 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Buck and Ball
The "M" weapon is a smoothbore musket. Most games give it a higher factor for one hex range because of it could fire buck and ball. Essentially making it a shot gun. I don't know why it isn't higher in Peninsula since it was a 5 vs 4 in earlier versions. I haven't checked the most recent JT version.
Author:  Joe Meyer [ Sun Jan 27, 2019 2:14 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Buck and Ball
In his book, To the Gates Of Richmond, Steven Sears writes that at the Battle of Savage Station the 5th Vermont suffered particularly heavy casualties, nearly half of its men, after Smith's Vermont Brigade (commanded by William T. H. Brooks) charged the Confederate line in the woods south of the Williamsburg Road. Sears explains that "much of this loss was inflicted by Rebel soldiers equipped with old smoothbore muskets firing 'buck and ball' - a cartridge containing a ball and three buckshot - which proved deadly at the short ranges of so much of the fighting there."

A double-odd buck shot is nearly a .36 caliber piece of lead. Three of those plus a .69 caliber musket ball, based upon the Springfield Model 1842 Musket, would be a fearsome load.
Author:  Christian Hecht [ Sun Jan 27, 2019 6:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Buck and Ball
That was a problem I feared, the different values for some games were there for a purpose, now with the attempt to bring everything to the latest Petersburg level we will have the same values over all games. But maybe this common base is good to adjust the values from there in future patches, and hopefully this time the differences will be explained so they do not get lost in the future.
Author:  Joe Meyer [ Sun Jan 27, 2019 6:54 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Buck and Ball
Here's a decent study paper on Civil War muskets vs rifles for download as a pdf. (Sorry for the long winded link, but our forum won't accept straight pdf uploads.)

https://www.google.ca/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=11&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjd-fv-kY_gAhW8HTQIHS6vC5YQFjAKegQIAhAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Fscholarworks.iu.edu%2Fjournals%2Findex.php%2Fiusburj%2Farticle%2Fdownload%2F19841%2F25918%2F&usg=AOvVaw32LDrZaccjHVyqGh2zePCv
Author:  D. Hampel [ Sat Jun 29, 2019 7:57 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Buck and Ball
Thanks, Joe! Great read and really interesting topic with the Buck&Ball review to the .pdt files.

I agree that a standard list of .pdt weapons should be established and that individual updates can be made for special scenarios/events but the changes should be noted in the description of the scenario.
Author:  MJohnson [ Tue Sep 28, 2021 11:36 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Buck and Ball
A smooth bore musket is also quicker to reload. Personal experience.
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