Balance of Power

Balance of Power are a set of horse and musket rules that allow players to fight battles with multiple corps per side in a reasonable amount of time. Each turn is 15 minutes, each infantry unit approx 1000 men, each cavalry unit approx 500 and each artillery unit 12 guns. The rules emphasise easy to play game mechanics at the unit level so that a large number of units can be fielded.

Corps and army level morale as well as command and control rules mean that players are concentrating on what their major formations are doing as opposed to the finer details of what each individual unit is up to. Units themselves are defined by their troop quality giving them a ‘combat value’ that is used to calculate the effects of their fire, melee and how much punishment they can take before they break and flee.

Balance of Power allows players to fight battles from the French Revolution through to the 1870’s. They keep the detail and enjoyment of fighting with lots of units on table by making the actual game mechanics of combat and firing simple enough so that there is little or no need to refer to charts and tables. Players will find that historical tactics, bombardment, support, reserves and combined arms all go towards achieving victory.

The base game rules are quickly learned and a few players a side can cope with the largest battles. This allows battles to be fought through to a conclusion which makes them ideal for campaign games. The aim of the rules is to give players time to develop plans, manoeuvre, conduct preparatory bombardments, all of which sees battles unfold in a historical manner.

– catalog listing

Designer: Mark Sims
Publisher: Crusader Publishing
Status: In Print
Contents: Available online (Wargame Vault) (20-page PDF)

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