Somewhere in Belgium - 1st Try at Black Powder in 10mm

[bigjackmac]

All,

So I finally got around to playing a game of Black Powder.  I finished up the forces about a month ago then needed to tinker with the rules a bit (partly because it's who I am and partly to make it a bit more interesting from a solo standpoint) before getting a game in.  Surprisingly the rules are pretty much intact, at least so far as I recall.  The major changes were the turn sequence and I added a 'skill test' for closing actions. 

Regarding the turn sequence, for me it's always more fun in solo games if it's not an IGOUGO sequence, so I put each side on cards, one for each brigade and CinC.  It's 'Bolt Action' style, meaning a card comes out for one side or the other, and the commander chooses which of his units to activate.  Changing to this meant there could be no more 'Side A moves, shoots, then melees, then Side B does same.'  So 'shoot' became an order, as did reload, and when you charge into melee it's carried out right away.

But, just like there's 'closing actions' in the regular Black Powder rules, I have them too.  My only change to them was to add a skill test, so that a closing action wouldn't be automatic, you had to pass a test in order to be able to form square or carry out closing fire, etc...  I'm sure I screwed up the rules in places, but other than the stuff I mentioned I believe I'm playing the rules as written.  I will say I screwed up the 'disordered' deal constantly; very infrequently did I check to see if one of the hits was a '6'...

So, the game was a lot of fun, but really dragged on.  I'd say I had a fantastic time for the first four hours, was pretty happy for the following 30 minutes, then I was simply exhausted for the last 50 minutes.  Part of the problem was I couldn't figure a spot to logically end the game; there were multiple times during the fight where I could (should) have declared one side or the other the winner, and if just one more thing would have gone right for that side I would have. 

But every time one side had the advantage, they either screwed a command roll and lost the opportunity, or carried out an action that ended up being indecisive and letting the enemy back in the game.  Ultimately it was a slaughterhouse and a draw, and when I threw in the towel I figured it made sense by that time that the sun had gone down and the two sides fell back to lick their wounds.

So here lies the results of 6 turns over 5 hours and 20 minutes.  I started the game with Brits/Prussians owning one table edge and the French owning the other; neither side had any forces on the table, but brought them on when a card was drawn and they passed a command roll.


Overview of table looking from west to east, from the French baseline towards the British/Prussian baseline.  When I initially set the table up I had a had a river running across the table, north and south (left to right), but decided to simplify things as this was my first go.


Brits getting into place for their stereotypical reverse-slope defense?  Dont' count on it!


The whole table at the end of Turn 1, looking north to south.  Prussians at top left, opposite French 3rd Brigade, and both sides taking up hill positions in the center.

For the rest of the write up and 60 more pictures(!), please visit my blog at:
http://blackhawkhet.blogspot.com/2014/01/first-game-of-black-powder-modified.html

I will get back to Black Powder, but right now I've got some WWII stuff calling my name (and several of yours, too)!  Take care, and thanks for looking.

V/R,
Jack

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Nice report, glad you enjoyed it for the majority of the time! Nice report.
I think mixing up the turn order will work well for BP, and one of the joys of the rules is you can change and tweak things to suit your needs.
Closing fire is considered to be about the only automatic action, just prey you hit!Finding the end of Black Powder is very very easy, but is buried in a sentence about half way through! 

This is how we do it for my Franco-Prussian games:
Basically, once over half your forces have broken, you lose.
Say you are using a division. So if you have two infantry brigades and a cavalry brigade, once each brigade reaches over half loses the formation breaks. If you then were to lose two brigades, your division breaks (basically it is considered to be withdrawing, but takes no further active part in the battle). If you are using multi-corps avctions like I do, the same applies, it just scales up.

Hope that helps
ML

[Techno]

Good stuff, Jack ! 
Cheers - Phil.

[petercooman]

Awesome!!!

[Leman]

Nice report. Incidentally, where did the terrained cloth come from?

[Womble67]

Nice battle report

take care

andy

[bigjackmac]

Thanks fellas, I appreciate it.

Dour Puritan- The are Hotz Mats with 4" hexes, which I then decided to ruin by drawing on my own two-inch squares with permanent marker...

Lemmey- Thanks, I was looking over that last night.  It's funny, but I still don't think it would have helped me yesterday.  I had plenty of units (infantry battalions, arty batteries, cav regiments) get beat up, but not many broke.  I had a lot of shaken units, but they just kept passing their break tests.  Actually, I did lose some cav (Brit Hvy Cav Brigade and French Lt Cav Brigade), and what would have changed is once two of the three regiments broke the third should have been removed, which would have left me units to do productive stuff with rather than chase down the remaining regiment.  In any case, it wouldn't have ended the game as the Brits would have lost two Brigades out of six (Hvy Cav and Prussian) and the French one of six (Lt Cav).   I really need to figure this out as it really felt like they kept fighting after really having the stuffing knocked out of them.

And am I correct with regards to unit types for the game (basic unit)?  If I'm playing the basic unit is an infantry battalion and an artillery battery, is the cavalry unit a regiment or a squadron?

V/R,
Jack

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Yup, sounds like a solid fight.
What, if any, morale rules were you using on units (valiant etc)? As too many can slow the game. Large units also increase longevity.

We find that the more 'negative' rules, the sillier the game!

For awi I use regiments both foot and cav.
Franco-prussian is regimental, with Prussians counting as large and the French unreliable, while cavalry is based per brigade unless skirmishers who are small.

The other possibility is you had a lucky night with the dice and both sides decided to stand their ground! 

[bigjackmac]

Lemmey,

I didn't do anything crazy, I actually kept it almost 100% vanilla: all units were medium sized, and the only special rule I used was 'form square.'  Didn't even use the Brit shooting or French attack column rules.  I think I just had a flukey time with the break tests.

V/R,
Jack

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Send me those dice. My last game I averaged four for morale! 

[bigjackmac]

I'll have to do that; I was consistently rolling between 7 and 9 on my break tests!  It sure did make the game carry on.

Jack