Price: $4.99 USD
Publisher: Nordic Weasel Games
I am pleased to announce the availability of Powder and Bayonet, the no-nonsense skirmish rules for Black Powder gaming.
Using the same core mechanic as the other Living titles recently produced, notably Blast Pistol and Last Era, the game lets you play 20 to 40 individually-based figures on the table to play out a big skirmish battle with lots of character and minimal difficulty.
The rules are intentionally kept straight-forward: Alternating activation, a D10 roll to hit, and a quick morale system.
Troops with breech-loading arms have a significant benefit over their muzzle-loading cousins; and hand-to-hand fighting, while less deadly, can still make or break a battle at bayonet-point.
The rules include options for fielding a cannon (a significant addition at the skirmish scale), heroic swashbucklers, and random terrain set-up and battlefield conditions.
A simple experience point system has been provided as well, for players who'd like to keep the same troops from game to game.
Lastly, you get profiles (and the odd special rules) for 15 types of foot soldiers (ranging from different quality grades of soldier to militia rabble to furious tribesmen and fanatic revolutionaries) and six types of personality to lead them into battle, each with an associated benefit to their men.
Powder & Bayonet Is Designed to Be:
- A: An ongoing living system.
- This means that additional battle types, options and rules will be added to the game over time.
- B: Very player-friendly:
- You only need a few ten sided dice to play, one type of marker (for morale purposes and you'll never need more than one per section of troops), and the rules are intentionally kept print-friendly.
As the rules will be updated frequently, the Living Game series omits cluttering up the pages with illustrations that you'd end up having to print out multiple times.
The concise design means the game clocks in at 17 pages.
