"Blackpowder armies" Topic

A qiestion about this rulebook by warlord games: do all armies have the same number of units?

There are no assigned numbers to units. Only general sizes like standard, small, large or tiny. It's a smart system. If most of your units have 18 soldiers, then that becomes your standard size. If most of your units have 24, then that's your standard size. That way you don't need to buy more figures.

I don't think I've ever heard of any rules that requires the same number of units for both sides.
And as leobarron says blackpowder isn't one of them.

Nope

You can have as many or few as you want

There are points values in The Last Argument of Kings supplement that we use for our SYW armies – the opposing armies are often similar in size but they have never been identical

It is not a well known fact – all armies, throughout history, had exactly the same number of units. Its funny how that worked out.

Tell that to Gen. Robert E, Lee.

Irish, are you, Gunfreak?

Nope not Irish

I don't think I've ever heard of any rules that requires the same number of units for both sides.

Well, there's DBA and its derviatives…

Then how do you balance the games o_O?

Then how do you balance the games o_O?

I have had a vision of Old Fritz complaining at Leuthen: But the battle is not balanced! Charles of Lorraine's army is bigger than mine!

Why would you want to balance the game? Real war is not balanced. Napoleon never said leave that Corps out of the battle otherwise we will outnumber the enemy! War is about being there "firstest with the mostest" as one ACW general said.

One way to work out your forces is to have a look at historical Orders of Battle for small engagements. Every war, even the Napoleonic Wars, had small battles that involved a brigade or division or two. Find one that involved similar numbers of units to the number of units you have and, there you go, instant 'army list'!

Then how do you balance the games o_O?

Easiest would be the quality of the troops. If the rules are good enough, it's perfectly possible for a small elite army to beat a bigger army of less quality.

Or terrain, give the defenders strong defensive positions.

Seems not usable outside historical scenarios

To answer your original question….

The supplement books such as "Last Argument of Kings" do give a proportional breakdown of units in a force for the periods covered. If you have a specific period of interest you should get that supplement. There are also supplements for Napoleonics, ACW, AWI, etc…The original rulebook only has the rules and general recommendations for armies and games.

So yes, it is very usable for scenarios outside of actual battles once you have the supplements.

Black Powder is eminently useable for both historical and what-ifs.

If balanced forces are what you are after then have both sides with an identical OOB and off you go.

I have a friend (very experienced wargamer) who regularly blogs his games. Have a look, he has only 73 posts covering Black Powder games so it shouldn't take more than a few days to open your eyes to the possibilities of BP.

link

Black Powder's flexibility, with the right application of rules and unit capabilities, allow it to work in a variety of wars, and with a variety of historical armies.