Big Al

Yes, you have it correct. The skirmish screen is there to screen against small arms fire and combat enemy skirmishers. It isn’t there to try and prevent artillery from shooting at them.

Not so. All of my units are based for the ruleset In The Grand Manner, which just happens to be the same size as the bases included in the plastic boxes by Perry Miniatures. So my infantry units are 6 figures to a base and 6 bases of 45x40mm. That gives a frontage of 270mm. I often play against units of 6 bases on 40x40mm bases and a frontage of…[Read more]

The supplements are not great when it comes to things like this. They could be referring to reduced numbers in a unit on campaign after losses and desertions. It could just be a misprint or error by the author that was missed during proof reading.

Remember that the rules in the supplements are only suggestions, whereas the rules in the rulebook…[Read more]

You’ll have to give further references. Which book are these points in?

You see, there are no points in Black Powder! The game was designed for use with scenarios. A rudimentary points system was included in the appendices of the original version of Black Powder, but was omitted from V2.

The supplement books were written for the original r…[Read more]

A) You have been playing it correctly. As winner of the combat, you can follow up or stand and support the next unit in the next combat. This is straight from the author in one of the now defunct forums, but if he was on here, he would confirm. Secondly to that, if the losing unit were to break as a result, then the winners could make a Sweeping…[Read more]

Regarding the rockets, as they are foot artillery, I would say that they have the same stamina. They are not as mobile as horse artillery, which is the trade off for the low stamina level given to horse artillery. That is something that is often overlooked by those who criticise the mobility given to horse artillery in the game. Once the unit…[Read more]

As Garry has said, you can change formation. I discussed this with Rick personally and he explained that expanding and contracting the frontage does not count as sideways movement.

So, you can change formation while within proximity. Don’t forget that there will be a -1 to the command roll for being that close to an enemy unit if you are not u…[Read more]

As Nat has said, the supplements were all written with V1 of the rules in mind.

There are a couple of things to consider and the main one is that the rules in the supplements are just suggested alternatives or additions. It is up to you whether you use them or not or even to tweak them. They are not actual rules replacements, just…[Read more]

Yes they do! That is, any unit that is in a position to support (within 6 inches of the unit fighting the combat), regardless of whether it was used as a support or not, must take a break test if the friendly fighting unit breaks! This only applies to a hand to hand combat situation and not shooting. Supports don’t count during shooting.

Yes, both flanked units can fight because they didn’t charge or attack. They were attacked and one of them will have been an incidental contact.

Yes, one of the units will become disengaged because there is no room for them both. The other way of looking at it would be that the single unit centre must contact the enemy unit that it is fighting, s…[Read more]

Not quite. They get to turn to face, but only one unit can fight in the next round because of the rule which only allows one unit to fight in an enemy unit’s quarter. So one will stand while the other moves to one side and supports.

Don’t forget that all units attacked in the flank can only place half of its attacks (rounded down) to the fla…[Read more]

Yup! As Garry has said. The rule book actually describes it as the victorious unit is so euphoric about winning that it ignores its casualties and so doesn’t have to test. As it has received excess casualties, the unit is now shaken, asHarry has mentioned. This means that it cannot initiate combat, but will still fight if attacked. It suffers -1 t…[Read more]

Charge the Guns is right. You issue your order and just rolled enough for the completion of the first part. That means that the unit changes formation. It is now stranded.

Leaving terrain like woods would be the same result. The only difference being that the unit does not need an order to change to line or close order because it would…[Read more]

Sounds good to me. The unreliable rule allows the exception.

Yes, Garry, that is correct. It only gets the benefits of skirmishers when shot at to the front.

The brigade order is rolled against the commander’s Staff rating, the result is then modified by any factors that might affect it. For example, if one member of the brigade is beyond the first 12 inches of the commander a -1 modifier is applied and so on.

the rule for brigade orders is that all units included in the order must be within 6 i…[Read more]

Mike, I always wondered why the break test for Closing Fire used the Hand to Hand result, especially as the test, if taken at all, happens before any close combat had occurred. However, this has always been the case, even in the original rulebook. You just don’t charge artillery head on with cavalry because they’ll never make it. Skirmishers are…[Read more]

Answering in reverse

2) No, casualties caused by closing fire do not count towards Combat Resolution, but they do count in the following break test if that unit loses the combat.

1) the combat is a draw. Neither side has to take a break test because neither side lost. Nor did either side become shaken (stamina level reached) so again, no break…[Read more]

Well said, Mike.

Actually, George, Garry is correct. A unit that is within 6 inches of a unit that breaks from combat must take a break test, regardless of whether it was used as support or not. See page 78 of BP2 paragraph at the bottom of the first column.