Big Al

Late to this, yet again!😁

I agree with Garry’s interpretation. Depending on how the square is formed, the artillery will be protected by the square.

However, you say that there was another unit of dragoons. Depending on the position of that unit, if it starts the turn within the flank quarter of the artillery, it could still charge the a…[Read more]

Late to this, but I think most of it has been answered.

Closing Fire break tests always uses the Hand to Hand results.

Skirmishers don’t have a frontage, or rather, count their front as 360 degrees, so will attempt to Form Square. I suppose that they could evade if they were close enough to terrain that the cavalry could not enter. I would a…[Read more]

No to both questions.

Firstly, closing fire only involves units that are contacted by the charging unit. There is no corner to corner contact in the game, so Unit B is only supporting.

Traversing fire only occurs if and when the enemy unit moves across at least half of your unit’s frontage, while within 12 inches of your unit. In the example y…[Read more]

Nobody really knows what Warlord will publish or when. They do things their way and don’t say anything until preorder time.

They showed us the mock ups for a Crusades supplement for Hail Caesar at Salute back in 2012 and it still hasn’t materialised! The ACW one was displayed at the same time and wasn’t released for another 6 years or so!

Yes that is correct.

This was not a popular rule and a suggestion was made in Albion Triumphant to reduce the effect, somewhat. That suggestion was that the first unit would suffer the closing fire but not contact the line and would support the second unit, which would be the one that contacted the line and fought.

However, V2 of the Rules has…[Read more]

No. You are shooting at the skirmishers who are in Open Order and already enjoy all of the benefits of that formation. You can’t have it both ways!

Sorry, that is what I meant by the first sentence of my reply. Yes, the commander’s turn is over as soon as he has failed a command roll.

Again, this can be dependent upon which version of the  Rules for Commanders you are using. The ones presented in the BP2 rulebook allow a General’s reroll if the failing Commander is within a prescribed dist…[Read more]

1) Yes it is, really.

Right, it all depends on which command rules you are using. The ones in the “Commanders” chapter do not allow any other orders to be given. However, if you read further into the chapter, it tells you that you can use the old rules from The first Black Powder Rules. In those, which most people have played for years, the Arm…[Read more]

Range. It is the different ranges that make the difference.

Sorry, Mike, but as I said in my response, if a unit is fighting to its flank, it cannot be supported. So, the Combat Resolution will not add +1 for each supporting unit – page 70 Units unable to be supported – Units fighting to its side or rear.

1) Yes artillery can move and fire. Artillery can be manhandled a total of 6 inches regardless of how low your command roll is. Movement happens during the Command Phase and shooting during the Shooting Phase. Some of the supplements have suggested rules to reduce the distances that a unit can move and still fire, but they are suggestions and not…[Read more]

Well, I’ve been playing BP since day one. All my standard units are 36 figures, which is what they were, generally, before Warlord decided to subtly raise the prices by reducing the number of figures in a box.

That is not helpful, though. What is helpful is to know, or remember that there is no figure count in the game. The only thing that is i…[Read more]

I agree with Gary, too. When in Mixed Formation, it is the skirmish screen that is firing, not the whole unit. As only a small proportion of the unit is deployed as a skirmish screen, giving it an extra die based on the size of the unit would be unrealistic.

Same thing if the unit is in Attack Column, really.

Spot on, Arcole! Absolutely right. The rules state quite clearly which troops can close ranks.

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 a…[Read more]

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.

Nice one. That is really helpful. There is a Hail Caesar rules Discussion Group on Facebook that would appreciate you posting this on there. Not everyone uses this forum.

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…[Read more]

You’d like to think, wouldn’t you.

It is quite possible that should the ACW thing take off, they may bring out Napoleonic in this scale, too.

Now, as you May know, Warlord have been vague on how to deal with distances with smaller scales, suggesting all of the things that you mentioned, without coming off the fence and declaring one or the oth…[Read more]

I would just convert to centimetres because it is easier and you have no maths to work out. I don’t care how simple the maths is, not having to do any at all is always easiest!

If you’re going with the ACW sets, the base sizes have been sorted out for you. The only thing I would suggest and it is what I am going to do, is to reduce the number of…[Read more]