"Black Powder: Traversing fire" Topic

In Black Powder this rule covers firing on units moving across your front. However, if someone does not charge you, but moves within less than a few inches, would you use this rule to fire first?

The rule book does not suggest this option, but would limit the player who gets 'gamey' and moves in close to fire but not charge.

If the enemy move into your front quarter within 12" but are not charging you you may conduct traversing fire. If they are charging you it then becomes closing fire. There is nothing I can see in the rulebook that gives the moving player any exemption from traversing fire based on their "intentions".

If they want to dawdle in front of your guns, SHOOT!

Robert

Why would you not use it? How do you know that unit is not planning something cunning to attack you?

Not convinced by this, the rule actually states that the enemy unit needs to move across half the frontage of the unit within 12 inches for traversing fire to be triggered. Simply advancing towards the defending unit won't do this. Once the advancing unit moves you get to shoot at it during your turn.

This situation came up in a game last week. A French player declared a charge on a British unit, rolled the command roll, and the maximum permitted move fell short by a bit over an inch. The rules say that closing fire by a unit is triggered when an enemy unit has contacted that unit (demonstrating the charge has gone home). So no closing fire could be performed. the British player than asked if traversing fire had been triggered and we decided it had not for the reasons cited by GarryWills. As we play that making more than one move means the unit cannot fire and the French player had made two full moves, the charging unit could not fire at close range. So it got stuck at close range in front of a British unit that still had first fire and using the steady line rule from the Albion Triumph Volume 1 supplement. Not a good day for that unit.

Personally I feel a unit must have exposed a flank in moving across the front of another unit for traversing fire to take place. That's based on the rule illustration and what I feel is the general flavor of the rules.

I don't play BP but surely this is to allow units to fire at enemy units that are outside their arc of fire, or obscured, after movement but, because they traversed half the frontage of the unit wishing to fire, it is ruled that they could have been fired at. I assume Traversing fire is less effective than 'normal' firing to account for the reduced shooting window?

This situation came up in a game last week. A French player declared a charge on a British unit, rolled the command roll, and the maximum permitted move fell short by a bit over an inch. The rules say that closing fire by a unit is triggered when an enemy unit has contacted that unit (demonstrating the charge has gone home). So no closing fire could be performed. the British player than asked if traversing fire had been triggered and we decided it had not for the reasons cited by GarryWills. As we play that making more than one move means the unit cannot fire and the French player had made two full moves, the charging unit could not fire at close range. So it got stuck at close range in front of a British unit that still had first fire and using the steady line rule from the Albion Triumph Volume 1 supplement. Not a good day for that unit.

I don't understand how the unit that failed to contact made the max permitted move (which would be 3 moves) but you say it only moved twice and failed to contact? Did it change facing or formation before making 2 moves? Otherwise it should have charged home. If the player only rolled enough for 2 moves perhaps he should have used a Follow Me order instead?

@volleyfire

I think the reference to "maximum permitted move" means that the command roll was 2 below CV, so allowed a maximum 2 moves, not that they could move three, which would, of course, have required a command roll three below the CV.

Not sure if it's well known that on YouTube Napoleonic Wargaming has many videos about war games using Black Powder rules. Though a Empire player watching many of them.

I play it as 'crossing a units frontage within 12cm(I play 15mm)' But not if it is failed charge as that is different.

When crossing a units front the target unti does not have to finish his turn in front of or in the firing arc the firing unit. The fact that they passed that close in fron tof them is enough to trigger the firing.

The firing unit suffer a -1 to hit.

This is the problem with this sort of mechanic…hard to define.

As BP uses a sort of "statement of intent" when one moves a unit, IF the intent is to move across your unit's front without facing your unit, then I'd say you should use the traversing fire rule. If they are just lining up or closing in to engage, then no.

I personally think it is easier to have a zoc rule.