"Black Powder - Nicht Wagram" Topic

Dear All,

I have blogged my latest Black Powder game, which has nothing whatever to do with the Battle of Wagram – nosireee!

More details here:
link

Outstanding report and pics……!

Super stuff!

Tally Ho!

Nicely presented, thank you.

Thanks so much for the kind comments Gentlemen!

Hi,
As someone who's still deciding on my ideal ruleset, I'm intrigued to read this in the comments on this blog post:

"Yes theres tremendous potential with Black Powder if you apply the toolkit approach to tailor your battle or campaign with a careful mix of stats and special rules."

I find this interesting because a number of people have suggested that BP does not really give a genuine period feel for Napoleonic games – it alegedly being too generic in trying to cover a wide time period.

I realise this is a little bit like comparing apples and pears – tailoring a battle or campaign is not exactly the same thing as getting enough period flavour, but I am interested in how these two views can be reconciled, if at all.

Cheers,
John

Well my view is that its quite simple – Black Powder offers an elegantly simple rules mechanism for the whole 200 year gamut of Horse and Musket warfare, and includes generic 'template' troop stats.

But in applying your own historical knowledge, you can, and are encouraged, to adjust the troop stats, and pick and choose from the wide selection of special rules, to fit the army, battle or campaign characteristics you are trying to recreate within that period.

I would go so far to say, that with its unforgiving attention to the command and control mechanism, BP is the only ruleset that truly delivers the keystone Napoleonic experience – having an army so mobile, compared to the opposition, that it can almost be in two places at the same time, thus allowing you to beat a larger, but slower army by achieving local superiority and taking on one wing at a time. Achieved this just once with BP, but the closest I've ever come in 3 decades of wargaming!

I have met many vociferous critics of BP as a Napoleonic ruleset, and so far they all share 2 characteristics: little or no experience actually playing the game, and, I suspect, no real knowledge of what made this period, and Napoleon's genius, so distinct!

Looks great Ralph….Im currently gluing Austrians to try to get as many battalions done in time for November as I can!