Ancient Artillery on the Battlefield

[eques]

Most rulesets allow for use of bolt shooters and stone throwers on the battlefield, and they are generally treated the same as Cannon, rules wise.

Is that right?  Did ancient armies use those machines in that way?  Do any sources mention them and are there any battles where they played a notable part?

[Duncan Head]

Not all that often, but: Onomarchos and the Phokians' defeat of Philip; covering the Jaxartes river-crossing for Alexander; Mantineia 208 BC (Spartan bolt-shooters along the front of the line); one of the Cremona battles in 69 (one legion has an unusually big stone-thrower); Arrian's campaign against the Alans; the Chersonesites' use of bolt-shooters in wagons against the Bosporans; Li Ling against the Xiongnu.

And many defences of fortified mountain passes (Persian Gates against Alexander, Second and Third Macedonian Wars against Rome), but that's different.

[Andreas Johansson]

Is there, incidentally, any attestation of using bolt shooters or the like to specifically target elephants? I'm aware Vegetius advocates the idea, but don't recall reading of it actually being done in battle.

[Erpingham]

I recall a discussion on Ancmed on Byzantine use of mobile artillery on battlefields.

[Duncan Head]

Is there, incidentally, any attestation of using bolt shooters or the like to specifically target elephants? I'm aware Vegetius advocates the idea, but don't recall reading of it actually being done in battle.

The only incident I can think of is at the siege of Megalopolis, not in the field:

Indeed, by pitting his native wit against the brute force of the elephants, Damis rendered their physical strength useless. He studded many great frames with sharp nails and buried them in shallow trenches, concealing the projecting points; over them he left a way into the city, placing none of the troops directly in the face of it, but posting on the flanks a great many javelin throwers, bowmen, and catapults. As Polyperchon was clearing the debris from the whole extent of the breach and making an attack through it with all the elephants in a body, a most unexpected thing befell them. There being no resistance in front, the Indian mahouts did their part in urging them to rush into the city all together; but the animals, as they charged violently, encountered the spike-studded frames. Wounded in their feet by the spikes, their own weight causing the points to penetrate, they could neither go forward any farther nor turn back because it hurt them to move.  At the same time some of the mahouts were killed by the missiles of all kinds that poured upon them from the flanks, and others were disabled by wounds and so lost such use of the elephants as the situation permitted. The elephants, suffering great pain because of the cloud of missiles and the natures of the wounds caused by the spikes, wheeled about through their friends and trod down many of them. Finally the elephant that was the most valiant and formidable collapsed; of the rest, some became completely useless, and others brought death to many of their own side.

[Andreas Johansson]

The only incident I can think of is at the siege of Megalopolis, not in the field:

Thanks

[Nick Harbud]

Most rulesets allow for use of bolt shooters and stone throwers on the battlefield, and they are generally treated the same as Cannon, rules wise.

Is that right?  Did ancient armies use those machines in that way?  Do any sources mention them and are there any battles where they played a notable part?

I suspect it rather depends upon the size.  I mean the small variety that can be manhandled on to a mule cart would be quite different from the siege machines that take approximately 20 minutes to reload.  If you want to compare ballistics of the gunpowder versus counterweight artillery, you might want to read my article in one of the 2010 Slingshots. 

Regarding deployment, early users of massed gunpowder artillery, like Charles of Burgundy, tended to arrange them in a boulevard where they be used to maximum effect.  (Not that it did Charles much good, as the Swiss simply marched around them, which is what most wargamers do.)  I have never heard of torsion or counterweight artillery being arranged like this. 

Most wargames treat all gunpowder artillery as being the heavy, immobile variety.  Notwithstanding, light gunpowder artillery (wall gun types) could be and were deployed on mobile platforms by the Hussites amd Poles amongst others.  However, most wargames rules find it difficult to model this, so they tend to lump their effects in with the war wagon or other transport.

[Dangun]

The DBx systems seem to make the error that if sources suggest artillery were available for siege the games will allow the artillery to be used against infantry in the field.

Not the same.

[Swampster]

The DBx systems seem to make the error that if sources suggest artillery were available for siege the games will allow the artillery to be used against infantry in the field.

Not the same.

Sometimes.
I suspect to some extent it depends on who wrote the core of the original list and when it was written. Some lists specify that the artillery can only be used if the opponent has a fortified town and others can only use their artillery defensively from a fortified town. Others may not allow the siege artillery but allow smaller pieces for the battlefield e.g. Hungary and the Low Countries had some very large guns but only get to use organ guns in the lists.
There seem to be times where an entry in a list is allowed because of usage during a relief operation. Some of the lists which have siege towers are in this category, so there may be times where siege artillery has been allowed for the same reason. There are other times where the artillery is allowed because they were used to cover a river crossing - Alexander's is the most famous but it seems the Wallachian artillery is permitted because they used it defensively against an Ottoman attack across a river.
The main limiter on the use of artillery by players seems to be their own choice. It is rare for a grande battery to be used in competitions in my experience partly because it is usually difficult to get the artillery into position where the enemy cannot avoid it.