This product is sold as an unpainted kit.

Additional Image.

1. Instruction Sheet. A hard copy of this sheet is supplied with the kit.

2-3. The model in these images was originally one of the Jacklex display items in the Harrow Model Shop. It was painted by Stuart Asquith who worked at the shop for a time. The model is owned by Roy Boss who kindly supplied the pictures. 

THE GARDNER GUN

The Gardner Gun was invented in 1874 by William Gardner who served in the Union Army during the American Civil War and was produced by Pratt and Whitney of Hartford Connecticut. The gun had one, two or five barrels and was fed by a vertical magazine and operated by a crank-handle. When the handle was turned, a feed arm positioned a cartridge in the breech, the bolt closed and the weapon fired. Turning the handle further opened the breechblock and extracted the spent case. The ammunition came in boxes that, when opened, exposed the rims of the bullets. In this way a whole box could be guided down the u-shaped channel of the magazine. Three men could keep the gun in continuous operation. The Gardner was approved for use in service with the Royal Navy and British Army in 1881. The Royal Navy adopted the five-barrel version arranged horizontally with .45in calibre cartridges.

THE WARGAMER

There are perhaps three issues for the wargamer using Gardners on the table top.

·         Reliability. The most obvious issue is that of jamming. In tests held in 1879 the Gardner fired total of 10,000 rounds. 4,722 before the first stoppage and 5,000 before the second. In British Army tests 16,754 rounds were fired with 24 stoppages (mechanical and crew) before a failure in the mechanism. However, in the field the situation was more problematic. The best example was at Abu Klea in 1885 when a Gardner jammed after firing 70 rounds. The Naval Brigade crew was killed but the gun was saved. In the same year and more successfully, a Gardner mounted on the gunboat ‘Lotus’ provided effective fire support for troops on shore. Clearly some sort of random chance of jamming, perhaps after each turn of firing, should be part of rules mechanism when using this gun.

·         Trained Crew. Due to the complexity of all machine-guns the crews required specialist training to operate them. Therefore, I would suggest that either, a trained crew can only be replaced by a trained crew, or that the gun cannot operate when it falls below a specified number of crew.  

·         Ammunition Supply. My usual mechanism for providing for the issue of ammunition supply is by use of small D6s by the gun or limber to indicate and restrict ammunition supply. I find that it prevents unlimited firing and makes the player consider the tactical use of the weapon in a more historical manner.  

Source: The Colonial Wars Source Book, PJ Haythornthwaite, Caxton Editions, London, 2000. A fascinating and highly readable text with a significant amount of useful detail for the wargamer.

Jacklex Miniatures Colonial Nineteenth Century 20mm metal wargame figures.