"Black Powder for the SYW" Topic

I'm thinking of using the BP rules (which I use for Colonial gaming) for the SYW.

Does anyone already do so & how do they handle battalion guns?
You can't use them as field artillery or the game would be horribly skewed – too much, too powerful.

Do I field them at all?

BTW any other SYW tips & House Rules will be welcome.

We tend not to use battalion guns but if you do I would add one die to the fire phase (i.e. instead of 3 die, roll 4)

Two house rules we use; i) all fire must occur before movement and ii) once artillery unlimbers, that's where it stays – there was exactly one horse artillery battery in the SYW (Prussian) and for the rest, when those drovers unlimbered the guns, off they usually went

We have also been trying out a "bathtub" version with half the number of stands per unit – mostly because we have a lot of units but don't have a Perry bros sized 15 X 18 table!

"Two house rules we use; i) all fire must occur before movement and ii) once artillery unlimbers, that's where it stays – there was exactly one horse artillery battery in the SYW (Prussian) and for the rest, when those drovers unlimbered the guns, off they usually went"

First mod. – I've seen this on blog reports. Also, some have the alternate house rule that if you get 3 Actions, you can't fire. Obviously, I'll need to use one or the other.

Second mod.- this is worth considering.

Thanks.

Hey Donald! I have used Black Powder a number of times for the SYW. One strong suit of Black Powder is that it is tool box game system and you are free to add or subtract things that you like and discard things you do not like. As Frederick said above I do not use battalion guns just muddies the water. I also use his rule that once guns are deployed they cannot limber back up. Once deployed that is where they stay. I believe in The Argument of Kings supplement if you move more than once you cannot fire. I could be wrong on that one. Also it is probably worth remebering the section of very useful rules as many troops will need specialty rules. Black Powder are easy to teach others fast but for me always seemed to lack just something. Which I can never put my finger on!
Good Luck!

Hi, Paul. I don't have that BP supplement.Yet.
James Roach left this blog post that I found very interesting, on Zorndorf:
link
It details "Useful Rules" he uses to give the game an SYW flavour. My first BP game is in about a month, so I have time to go though the Useful Rules & think about what to use.

As I have various battalion gun models & figures, I want to use them – childish, I know.
So, how about re-rolling a missed shot if a battalion has a battalion gun? Not too powerful?

So, how about re-rolling a missed shot if a battalion has a battalion gun? Not too powerful?
Sounds good let me know how it works.
As I strain my underused brain I actually do not think we limited the movement and fire rules. We used the regular stuff in the original rules so 3 moves and fire no problem. I can't recall any "Howls of Anguish" when that happened.
The only rule we as a group we have questions about is the Proximity rule. If you are 12" away from an enemy unit but a friendly unit is in front of you are you bound by the rule? Movement to the front and rear quadrants has vast degrees of flexibility in it was that the intent of the Proximity rule? Only forward and backward movement. Can get very "Gamey"

I think there is a blog 'Road to Blenheim" which has house rules for WAS/SYW

Is quite good if I recall correctly