@Truscott Trotter, you can find the answers to most of those questions in my 3 part review of the rules:
link
link
link
I too did an interview back in 2012
link
But look forward to the upcoming interview as well :-)
But trying to answer them directly here as well:
1 & 2) The game plays, at this point, on a skirmish (Level 1) and Division (Level 2) size. Larger battles will be included in the future. In Skirmish mode player take on the role of a raiding party, in division level games players are fielding 3-5 regiments and equal amounts of divisional support units and artillery.
Regardless of size, there is always one commanding officer, in level 2 games this is the General. The General has a fixed number of INSTRUCTION points which he has to distribute to his regimental commanders (each commanding a single regiment). For instance if he wants the Pike & Shot to take up defensive positions he issues the INSTRUCTION "DEFEND" to the Pike & Shot Regimental commander.
Now the Regimental commander himself has ORDER POINTS. These can be spent on companies under his command. If he fulfills the INSTRUCTION of his General, the cost of ordering a company is 1 COMMAND POINT. If he goes against his Generals instruction each company will require 2 COMMAND POINTS.
Ordering units outside of your zone of influence also increases the cost of issuing orders. Command points are also used to tweak die rolls if you wish, though they are always very limited in number so you have to think hard on how to spend them.
Sub commanders have order points just like the regimental commander, but they have fewer points and still rely on the regimental commander to lead the regiment.
It's a great system and works very well.
3) Combat is based upon skill, you roll 1D10 and try to get equal to or lower to your skill point to inflict a hit. Different weapons have modifiers and your skill can be increased in some cases as well (during a full speed cavalry charges it is easier to inflict damage on the enemy).
4) Infantry, at least in our games, have actually never got into close combat. It is mainly Cav vs Cav, and Cav vs Inf situations. Cav vs prepared infantry can be messy if the infantry has time to fire defensive fire and even more so if they have pike companies rushing in to defend.
Cavalry vs Cavalry is fighting on more even terms most of the time. You can have situations where both sides charge at the same time and thus both receive charge bonuses.
5 & 6) Yes. Victory conditions are established in each scenario, skirmish level games have more flavor in this regard with foraging, ambush, recon etc scenarios. Larger division sized battles determine the winner by counting victory points for destroyed/broken regiments and both players compare their final tally and consult a table to see the end result. You need to both inflict more kills and preserve your force in order to score more points. Just killing but also losing a lot of men often results in a Draw.
7) There is a point system but you don't play equal armies (unless you want to). The only fixed requirement is that players field minimum skirmish or division forces. If players want to add more units then they do so. All companies (and sometimes bases of specific units) have a points value. Points are counted and summed up to see the total army strength in order to determine if one player is "stronger" or "weaker". The weaker is then allowed to buy tactical options for the difference in points between the two armies. This may be adding terrain features, choosing table edge, altering deployment zone size, changing which way of the table you are playing on (long/ short side)and so on. The weaker player however suffers potential morale penalties for being outnumbered.
looks at a fast-assembly naval kit for the Age of Sail.