Richard
I use gun sections in scenarios quite a lot but there is one significant drawback which I will try to explain.
If you are familiar with the way the game determines whether a hit has occurred or not, you will know that a Fire factor is determined from the product of the Weapon Effectiveness value at a given range and the strength of the firing unit.
A random number is generated and modified by factors such as terrain, elevation, unit quality etc.
The Fire Factor is cross referenced against the modified random number and this indicates the outcome of the shot.
Now, because unit strength is a factor in the equation, there will be targets that three 2 gun sections will not be able to hit whereas one 6 gun battery, would be able to. So, unless you are trying to illustrate a point, (like the benefit of grouping guns into batteries as opposed to the use of regimental gun sections, or battalion guns), then be sure to reduce all batteries on both sides to the same level of 2 gun sections or 3-gun companies.
If for example, you have an army with a couple of 12 gun Russian batteries and a lot of regimental gun sections on one side, with limited ammunition in the scenario, can you guess which guns will get fired every phase?
Another point is that, with 2-gun sections, when one gun is lost, the effectiveness of the unit is reduced by 50%. Again, that residual single gun is not going to get fired again until all other units are down to this level, otherwise it's a waste of a shot that could have been taken by a twice as potent 2-gun section.
I'm not trying to put you off the idea, I use them all the time and prefer them, as it also serves to reduce the effectiveness of the guns, making them less dominant on the battlefield, which I think is a good thing. I just wanted to let you know of some of the problems with this.
Another one that springs to mind is that where you have a large number of negative modifiers, such as firing into a chateau, it will no longer be possible to hit the target with artillery gun sections.
Now, if they would include a function to allow you to group sections into batteries ....[:)]
Regards
Mark
VII Corps
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