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Guns in D&D - A Hot Take
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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 7554067" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>Yeah, they had this theory even back in the 18th century, and the problem with it is statistically it was wrong even then.</p><p></p><p>It was actually more the other way around. </p><p></p><p>Even in wars in the 17th century, wounds from bayonets were actually pretty rare. The musket volleys were doing most of the damage, and commanders that relied on the bayonet charge tended to get their troops cut to pieces. By the American revolution, the firearm had evolved to the point that the bayonet was almost useless, but it would take another 150 years before people would realize it. Even by the Napoleonic Wars, the bayonet probably accounted for 1% or less of all casualties, but commanders (commanders who weren't Napoleon at least, who seems to have figured this out pretty quickly) were still ordering bayonet charges like they were the actual decisive part of the combat. </p><p></p><p>It's actually far more likely that the real value of the bayonet was that it was intimidating. You'd exchange volleys, and then if the other guy was still coming at you in mass with this long pointy piece of steel leveled at you, you'd probably decide now was the time to think about either quitting the field or dropping your arms and surrendering. Observers actually drew the wrong conclusion. Seeing a battle won at the point of a bayonet, they thought that the bayonet had won the battle. Usually though the actual decisive point had occurred earlier, where one side or the other hand been degraded by accurate fire - either accurate rifle fire (as in the case of American armies made up of men with lots of hunting experience) or perhaps even more often accurate deployment of comparatively light field artillery, such as 3lbers and later 6lbers.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 7554067, member: 4937"] Yeah, they had this theory even back in the 18th century, and the problem with it is statistically it was wrong even then. It was actually more the other way around. Even in wars in the 17th century, wounds from bayonets were actually pretty rare. The musket volleys were doing most of the damage, and commanders that relied on the bayonet charge tended to get their troops cut to pieces. By the American revolution, the firearm had evolved to the point that the bayonet was almost useless, but it would take another 150 years before people would realize it. Even by the Napoleonic Wars, the bayonet probably accounted for 1% or less of all casualties, but commanders (commanders who weren't Napoleon at least, who seems to have figured this out pretty quickly) were still ordering bayonet charges like they were the actual decisive part of the combat. It's actually far more likely that the real value of the bayonet was that it was intimidating. You'd exchange volleys, and then if the other guy was still coming at you in mass with this long pointy piece of steel leveled at you, you'd probably decide now was the time to think about either quitting the field or dropping your arms and surrendering. Observers actually drew the wrong conclusion. Seeing a battle won at the point of a bayonet, they thought that the bayonet had won the battle. Usually though the actual decisive point had occurred earlier, where one side or the other hand been degraded by accurate fire - either accurate rifle fire (as in the case of American armies made up of men with lots of hunting experience) or perhaps even more often accurate deployment of comparatively light field artillery, such as 3lbers and later 6lbers. [/QUOTE]
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