Arrows v artillary

[Didz]

well thats what the serpentines are for (the napolenic ones anyway). They were able to cover the 'dead ground' infront of the artillery firing hundreds of musket balls (M2TW has a version of this iirc). Against the tight formations of the French @ Waterloo, these were very effective

In fact 'dead ground' provided a certain level of protection from these as well. The shotgun effect certainly reduced the affects of dead ground but only up to a point. In the ACW for example it was quite common for artillery to fire cannister over the heads of their own infantry deployed below them on a slope. Not something I'd care to expereince but nevertheless it did happen. Provided the slope is sharp enough and you are close enough to the guns the shot should clear your head safely, though your eardrums would probably be destroyed and you might get singed by spent wadding.

Incidently, cannister was effective against French Columns not so much becuase they were densely packed but becuase they were deep. The shot spread rapidly in a cone shape when it left the mouth of the cannon. A significant proportion would bury itself in the earth between the cannon and the target and only that which maintained a flat trajectory hit the front face of the enemy thus benefitting from the tight formation. What mattered was that the significant proportion of the charge which went high over the heads of the enemy eventually degraded and fell back into the columns rear ranks inflicting a spread of additonal casualties down the entire column depth, a bit like parabolic archer fire does in MTW2. Mercer added to this advantage by double shotting his guns with cannister over ball, probably didn't do the barrels of his guns much good but I wouldn't have wanted to be on the receiving end.