Gen Walter's complaint about a chain of command is a valid one, but it ought to be one that could be easily fixed. If batteries are attached to brigades, as was common, particularly early in the war, they ought to be in the brigade commander's chain of command. If they are in separate brigades or battalions, they should have their own leader, who comes under the appropriate level commander. In Gettysburg, though, that would penalize the Union, whose batteries could receive the benefit of only two levels of command instead of three, but so much depends on leader quality in this system, and artillery morale is usually high enough that any help leads to automatic undisruption.
Folks who are complaining about batteries being overrun must be playing the one-phase system, since infantry interlocking zones of control in the multiphase system prevent infantry from closing with the guns. Players who ignore protecting their guns with interlocking zones of control will suffer the same fate as some of the Union batteries at Chickamauga or the Confederate battalion (Carter's?) that was overrun at Spotsylvania after firing two shots. The bigger problem is that batteries, once overrun, are permanently removed from play. On the second day at Gettysburg, Confederates captured numerous guns, but only managed to hang onto one. Most of the rest were recaptured by the Union and put back in service.
One other thing to consider is whether artillery ought to have the same movement allowance as infantry. I am not very knowledgeable in this area, but it seems to me that artillery batteries ought to have a movement allowance of about 18. I would think artillery marched at the same rate as infantry for purposes of security rather than inherent limitations. On occasions when the guns did limber and get away, it was probably because they outran the pursuing infantry. Of course, weather (mud) might play a big part in a battery's mobility.
MG Mike Mihalik
1/III/AoMiss/CSA
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