Questions from After My First Test Battle

[George]

Hello,

Well I got two armies now. One is Dutch (under a British COC) and the the other is Bavarian (under a French COC). Each army has a 3 regiment brigade of cavalry, a 3 battalion brigade of infantry, and a battery of 8lb smoothbore artillery.

So, I played a solitaire first game with Black Powder rules. I enjoyed testing the rules but came up with questions:

1. I fought hand-to-hand combat. When a side rules hits and gets a “6” does that cause disruption as it does in shooting?

2. A Dutch cavalry unit, on its turn, charged the Bavarian cannons head on. The cannons rolled 3 dice in closing fire and got a 6 disrupting the cavalry. However, the cannons were still destroyed in the ensuing HTH combat. It says under disruption rules that the disruption can be removed at the end of a player’s turn if not still in close combat. Well, the guns were broken so the cavalry isn’t in close combat at the end of that turn. So, does cavalry get to remove the disruption as they won the combat and routed the enemy or, because they fought that turn, do they have to wait until the end of their next turn if unengaged?

3. I had a building occupied by Dutch infantry. A Bavarian infantry rolled 3 dice attacking the Dutch. I noticed there isn’t a hit penalty for firing at a building (although the Dutch get a +2 morale bonus). Am I missing something? It seems that there would be a hit penalty for firing at buildings.

4. Is it possible to “blow up” buildings with troops in them? I didn’t read any rules on that. Seems like if you barrage a building with cannon fire you can take it down.

5. Here is a design question. I have a 6’x4′ battlefield. To play a large battle with 28mm I either need to buy a tennis court or scale down. I’m thinking of going to 6mm Baccus figures but they are way behind in filling their orders.  However, I could also halve my battalions/regiments, say, 3 bases of 12 infantry and 3 bases of 6 cavalry. Can’t reduce batteries and generals so they would seem to be out of proportion unless I have generals on foot and consider the limbers part of the artillery piece. Any opinions on this?

Respectfully,

Gsayhi

[Big Al]

1) No. disorder (disruption as you have called it) occurs as a result of a break test during hand to hand combat.

2)Yes it does. Your situation raises a couple of questions, though – did the artillery closing fire cause any casualties on the charging cavalry? Assuming that it did, the cavalry should have taken a break test, which means that it was unlikely to complete the charge and the artillery would still be there. Look at the reasons for taking a break test. However, if the artillery did not cause casualties, then yes the disorder is removed at the end of the cavalry player’s turn.

3)The target would be classed as Unclear, as it is deployed within the building. So -1 to hit.

4)Never come across that before. If you wanted to do that, you could house Rule it, though ordinarily, it would all just count as casualties against the occupying troops. It is those that you are targeting, really.

5)I’m afraid that I usually play on the “tennis courts” that you mention. I am fortunate that at our club (currently closed) we have the room and tables to play on large surfaces. Our smaller games take place on 8×6 foot tables, so I cannot answer your question from experience. However, yes, you can reduce the size of your units and just halve them. As for Commanders, there is no need to reduce their bases and if you really feel that the base is too out of scale, just measure distances from his head. Same with guns, just measure from the barrel or centre of the gun. It would make no difference, really.

Baccus has suffered because of the pandemic. They make some rather nice models and the pandemic has led to a lot of furloughed people ordering more stuff to give them something to do while laid off. They have also been producing a new range to go with the republishing project of the old Pony Wars Rules, which people like me are still waiting for (they were expected to be released in January and have fallen behind, too) when using 6mm I suggest that you just convert all measurements and ranges into centimetres. Makes life much easier!

[George]

Thank you Big Al.

[George]

Okay, more to ask.

6. There seem to be no movement penalties for moving up a hill or down one. Am I missing something? Shouldn’t I slow down a bit going up a hill?

 

[Big Al]

No. There is no penalty, just as there is no wheeling. There is an uphill advantage during combat which you lose if you are pushed back.

[George]

Big Al, you say “There is an uphill advantage during combat which you lose if you are pushed back.” I’m going into the rules trying to find that uphill advantage. I can’t find it. What is that advantage?

[Nat]

Just to add
4) building are hard to bring down with canon balls… not the sort of thing that could be done in a short space of time (even a couple of hours).  Look at some of the building still standing that where under fire during that time period.
Also buildings are abstract,  its very hard to find a single building big enough for 700+ men to fit in.  So a building on our battlefields is likely a small village.  (look at the farms of Waterloo, they are a collection of buildings)

6)Clash of Eagles, pag 110, side with the high ground gains +1 Combat Res.

[Big Al]

I wouldn’t recommend using any of the rule suggestions in any of the supplements until you know the rules in the main rulebook first.

The rules in the supplements are only suggested additions or replacements and not actual rules. Since Black Powder 2 has been released, one or two of the rules in the supplements have been adopted and included and some of the rule changes in BP2 have rendered some of the suggested rules in the supplements obsolete. So, you need to learn the main rules first, then you will see the rules which can be used from the supplements, should you wish to adopt them.

 

[George]

Thanks Big Al but back to you said. What is the uphill advantage? I’m not reading it in the BP 2nd Ed. rules.

[Author]

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