Black powder fpw

[Jim Ando]

Hi
Anybody use black powder for the Franco prussian  war. I personally think they are probably the easiest set of rules to adapt/tinker with. I was thinking of several ways to make them more suited to the period . The obvious one is to make the french have a longer rifle range but some others  need a bit more thought. The first is the french command, do you give them a 7 rating or do you limit the french to a maximum 2 actions instead of a possible 3 but keep the command at 8. Next the prussian artillery, I was thinking of not giving them the -1 for firing at more than half range for the better ammo avaliable. Also make the prussians attack in attack column when going into hand to hand but without the +1. Next the question of prone units, it could be a formation change and the unit would be a 6 to hit but would only fire with one die and if caught prone in hand to hand was automatically removed. Let's know your opinions.

cheers

Jim.

[Leman]

Some interesting ideas there. If you are intending to game the republican phase, which was the bulk of the war, bear in mind that the Germans had started to learn that column attacks were very costly against chassepot fire and were starting to use looser formations and supported rushes, i.e. one group fire while another rushes forward, then roles were reversed. Also, under the republic the French artillery began to use percussion shells, similar to the Prussian ammunition.

Black Powder appear to have been produced for groups of players to introduce their own ideas, consequently what works for your group in FPW may not be replicated by other Black Powder FPW players.

[Jim Ando]

Hi

Good reply exactly what I was after. I was thinking of the imperial phase. Just had another thought which isn't like me on a Monday. Do you represent prussian units as large or do you give them a stamina of 4 to represent full strength units from better mobilization.

Jim

[Leman]

Either way will give the impression of a larger unit than the French in the imperial phase. The objective for the French is to weaken advancing Prussian units whilst their needle guns are out of range. Once the Prussians get in they apparently displayed the fact that, on average, they were bigger men than the French which made a difference in melee. As the war progressed the Prussians began to lose the size of unit advantage. Some Bavarian units were down to 500 men by November. Nevertheless, the Prussian units were still a higher quality than the bulk of the republican armies.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Yes, I have used them an awful lot for FPW, a few (mostly negative) modifications from the rules and they produce very accurate games, especially at multi-corps livel, in an evening.
PM me your email and I will send you the mods and stats I used in our very successful campaign (later this week most likely)

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Large for Prussians

[Leman]

Hey Lem, can I pm you as well? Looking at different sets to use with the 10mm stuff, as I only do BBB here with 6mm and 2mm. Looking for something for smaller tactical actions. Cheers.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Great, of course Leman

[profjohn]

I've used BP for a large scale Gravelotte/StPrivat. Made modifications for range etc. it went uncannily: Prussian attack faltered under fire and went disordered. French Guards division ordered to move down to finish them off. Couldn't get them moving because of the way I'd set the command values.... Prussians pulled themselves together and the rest was history....

[Techno]

As that was your first post, 'Prof'....

A very warm welcome to the madhouse forum.

Cheers - Phil

[fsn]

Indeed, as friend Techno says, welcome to the forum Professor.

Nice to see a bit of class about the place.

[Duke Speedy of Leighton]

Hello and welcome

[Lord Kermit of Birkenhead]

Hi. One limitation you could try is to limit the number of "battalions" you can move as a group. makes CC bloody difficult. (Pinched from an 1812 Scenario in Wargames Monthly [I Think] )

IanS

[Orcs]

We have adapted Fire and Fury for FPW at club

[Orcs]

Welcome Prof.