Quote Originally Posted by Ars Moriendi
This thread got me into a playful mood, so I ran several battles with artillery on bridge defense, just to see how much fun I can have rolling cannonballs along a bridge like on a bowling alley...

Here's an account with screenshots from the last one :

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

Initial setup - my army (french) is made of 2 pikemen ("meatshield") and 2 serpentines (4xp) stationed along the bridge axis some 50m away ; the enemy (scots) - 19 units of highland pikemen, in long column entering the bridge.



The Jaws of Death (tm):



Serpentines start shooting, scots start flying :




Scottish general, sniped at the far end of the bridge while running away :



The scots are in a constant rout cycle - they get to my side, eat a couple fast balls, flee to their side, regroup and come again just to be routed once more :




Some scotsmen routed towards my side, then rallied and smashed my pikemen from behind, thus ending the Jaws of Death (tm). Therefore, my gunners must end the battle with their machettes :



Final results : clear victory, serpentines scored 583 kills.






Conclusion : artillery can be very effective in bridge battles if you use anti personnel pieces (ie. serpentines, not bombards ; ballistas instead of trebuchets) and they have some experience. All you need to do is place them right and give them time to do their work

You do an excellent job posting images. I'm taking notes for my next visual thread.