the first day of gaming. with actual NAP models of my own!

[huzzah]

hey guys, i'm back! so i didnt know where to put this as its not a battle report but has reports of battles in it so here goes!

at the loval gaming club i managed to get a few matches of black powder in. we used the 'template' rules in the back of the book as there were, British NAP (me), american revolutionarys, SYW prussians, Crimean russians and confederate ACW.

I went into the games with a happy, if crummyily and partly painted, force of 2 infantry brigades with 3 battailions and 1 light artillary each and a cav brigade of 2 heavy cav and 1 horse drawn arty peice.
(sorry no pics )

1st game against a confederate force of 1 infantry brigade of 3 battalions and 2 guns, 2 cav brigades of 2 light horse and 2 cannon each. well, it didnt go to plan shall we say? first order i blundered an ifnatry brigade into moving 6 inchs from his infatry brigade. in march formation. a write off. the cav had a feild day however, over running one confederate cav brigade and seeing off the others artillary before bogging down in H2H combat. the game turned into an infantry slug fest then with volley after volley going backwards and forwards. that changed when he marched his infantry arty into my flank and enfiladed me. 3 full moves to do it too! so a loss but a good game tho my opponant seemed a bit miffed hed been dragged on so long by a 'Freaking newby'

the second (and last) game was against the Americans. a nice force of 3 identical brigades, 2 infantry, 1 cav, 1 gun per brigade and the cav had 'marauders'. the games objectives was to hold a ridgeline over looking a river and small village on the other side. the americans seized the ridge first setting up infantry at the bottom, guns on the hill and cav out skirmishing. a little artillary duel without any serious results and then i formed attack colum and charged the ridge! and then something odd happened, my opponant and the confederate general agreed that the infantry could fire in line at my chargers (fine no problems) but so too could his artillary even tho the front of the combat was more then 6 inch away. with two gamers to one i had no argument both my infantry brigades broke anfd the battle was done

so can anyone help me with that last rules issue? can arty fire like that and it still count as closing fire?

[Big Al]

The artillery can only fire as closing fire if it is going to be contacted by the charging unit. That is contact to the front and not corner to corner, because units do not fight against enemy units diagonally, only straight ahead. So, no, the artillery couldn't fire closing fire and you were cheated! Very ungentlemanly conduct from your opponents. Ought to be taken out and whipped!

If the artillery were positioned such that the charging infantry moved across their front and within 12" then they could claim traversing fire, but it doesn't sound like that happened, so the guns can't fire.

[huzzah]

ridge line oIIo (cannon) oIIo (cannon)
6 inch here to BACK of frendly unit
base of ridge [A.infantry] [A.inantry] [A.infantry] [A.infantry]


[B.infantry][B.infantry] [B.infantry] [B.infantry]

this was the situation and he got all 3 gun dice per gun.

[Big Al]

Ok, the diagram thing doesn't really work. Let me see if I have this correct, the cannon were behind but uphill of their friendly infantry units which you were charging? If not, then, as I said earlier, because your infantry was never going to make contact with the artillery bases, they cannot fire closing fire. If they were, same answer. The key is that your infantry were not going to engage the artillery, so the artillery cannot open fire. Quite simple and on page 51. Unless the gun bases are subject to a charge they cannot give closing fire, just like any other unit. Anyone who says they can is not playing to the rules, but making some up and using those. Very ungentlemanly! That or they haven't read the rules.

If the cannon were even 1/4 of an inch behind the front of the friendly infantry and to one side, the couldn't fire. Nor could they if you had them butted up to the side of the infantry and level at the front, but your unit didn't contact any part of the gun base other than the very corner, they couldn't shoot. They can only shoot if part of your infantry base makes contact with part of their gun base front.

Take a look at the right hand diagram at the bottom of page 60. If your unit is the blue box and your opponent's infantry is the one directly opposite and the gun is the rectangle to the right, the gun cannot fire closing fire! If you look at the centre diagram above it and your infantry is the blue box, then the gun can give closing fire.

If the guns are in a similar position to either of the non contacted reds in the diagram top right of page 67, then they can't fire.

[huzzah]

yeah it looked better when i typed it haha. they claimed it was 'supporting brigade fire' that the formation can fire in support if a unit is charged.

[Big Al]

yeah it looked better when i typed it haha. they claimed it was 'supporting brigade fire' that the formation can fire in support if a unit is charged.

Nonsense! They need to read the rules. There is no such thing in Black Powder. Supporting units in Hail Caesar add dice to the attacks made by the unit in combat and they are described as supporting units throwing javelins, knives and stones. However, they don't get to give closing fire against a charging unit. Also, cannons would be firing grape and cannister, which would decimate their own troops so it can't be done. It isn't allowed and I wouldn't allow it. They conned you and I would demand satisfaction if I were you. Demand a rematch using the rules as written instead of made up ones!

[huzzah]

well i have a rematch saturday as a skirmish to a bigger battle with the winner being a 'flank attack' to the main game. got drawn against the confederate so should be interesting!

[grant]

So you guys are playing Naps vs ACW vs AWI, that's different but also sounds cool!

[Big Al]

well i have a rematch saturday as a skirmish to a bigger battle with the winner being a 'flank attack' to the main game. got drawn against the confederate so should be interesting!

I was watching The Outlaw Josey Wales the other night and the little joke about men from Missouri was mentioned. Use the punchline (it was a poor joke) when your opponents try the closing fire on you again. Just hand them the rulebook and say "Show me!"
You know that they can't!

Let us know how the game goes!

[huzzah]

well that was a good weekend sorry it took me so long to write up but works a pain!

the day started off with a warm up game betwen me and the prussian player that was funny in the ineffectiveness of my army (two brigades broke after the first test) and the bludering succsess of his!

the main game went well as the confederate lad made a mistake and marched his army straight at me to try and push through the flank. thenn clamed that i couldn't enfilade his colums from the front. a quick rule bokk flurish and game effectivly over!

the main battle i arrived on the colonial's right flank and seized a warehouse/barn and a long stone wall before establishing a corridor for allied units to march on the flank. a pitty my army apparently forgot what 'hold ground' means and blundered back off the table! overall a fun if bizare day and a good dose of revenge!