"Firepower rules for 19th century warfare" Topic

I have copied this from the ACW message board because the Firepower rules were designed to go with the ACW period and are included in the Perry's Battle in a Box set, but I think they have a lot of merit, for simple games, in using them for the 19th century period. 'I have played a couple of games with them and they are very nice rules indeed especially for solo play – the movement rules get rid of the bias which sometimes creeps in when playing solo, at least for me. I am trying to adjust them for 19th century, European rules, by introducing march columns and skirmishers. Not easy, but I am getting there, whilst trying to keep to the integrity of the rules which do work well for ACW period. For example, I think the artillery needs to be more effective: the test for infantry morale may not be applied until,say, more than 3 of points of damage (my 42mm units are 16 men strong)are accrued and that there are no more than 2 points of damage when closing for 'hand to hand' fighting. These modifiers are just to recognize the better discipline of European armies of this period and more reluctance to close into a melee which would be historically correct. I am tinkering, as we all do, but the beauty is that it is possible with a few modifiers to make radical period and army changes without changing any of the basic concepts. Fascinating to see what others have to say.

I'd love to give "Firepower" a shot. Unfortunately, when I inquired about buying it from Perry Miniatures, I was politely told that it might be sold separately in the future, but not now.

15mm scale ACW figures have been the standard here in Austin, Texas for decades. I mentioned this when I wrote to the Perrys. The Battle Box looks great, but it just isn't a hobby purchase that I can justify, especially just to get my hands on one rules set.

I wonder if I could piece together "Firepower" from reports like yours, the article about the rules in Wargames Illustrated, etc.!

Jeff

Funny, my thought was, there are already so many rule sets that fit this bill, what do these have to offer that are different?

I'm thinking of The Sword and the Flame, Black Powder, Principles of War, Piquet Field of Battle, Bloody Big Battles, et. al.

These work VERY well for ACW: bloodybigbattles.blogspot.co.uk

Peter,

How did your European variant rules work out? I'd be interested to know.
were they for early or Late 19C. If late, did you add Rifles, Machine guns and more modern artillery?

Regards
John