Quote Originally Posted by Ishmael View Post
ok folks-historically, if both sides has a lot of artillery (in a land battle), did the artillery try to take each other out, or did they tend to ignore the other side's arty and just go for the infantry?
It would generally depend on the battle and positioning of artillery.

However, up until Napoleonic times, artillery tended to be a bit lonesome on the field. The idea of the 'Grand Battery' (whether French or Russian) only came about in the late 1700's, so prior to that large concentrations of cannon would be pretty rare.

But, either way, I understand that it was preferable to capture cannons, sort of like taking an eagle or a regimental banner. You could drag them home and mount them in front of your barracks, or use them, depending on the situation.

So, I'd say that, at regular ranges, it would be unlikely to see 'artillery duels' in the 1700's. Cannons just weren't accurate enough to hit specific targets behind the lines, so a few 'potshots' when the chance presented itself might be made, but I would imagine they would stick to the convenient targets...like large masses of infantry in dense formation.

The development of a 'grand battery' gives artillery a bigger target in the enemies artillery which, IMO, makes the occurrence of 'artillery duels' more likely.

I am, of course, only speculating on this. Anybody with actual records is welcome to present them :P