Big Al

1 & 2) It is all there on page 88. A square can move a maximum of 1 move regardless of the success of the command roll. It can only move at half pace (6 inches) and can only move towards its own baseline. If the order fails, it can still make a single move (sometimes the proof read misses something).

Test

That’s right. Your excess casualties are removed. But, as I said (and I am probably being pedantic over terms) hits are not casualties. You roll to hit then your opponent rolls dice equal to the number of hits as morale saves. Any that are failed become casualties. So, if there are five hits and your opponent saves three of them you have two c…[Read more]

Nat – yes, if the cavalry contacted the artillery as well, then it could give closing fire. However, that situation wasn’t mentioned in the question.

SteveT – I have never failed to Form Square. I’ve lost count of how many games I have played since the release of the game back in 2010. It is one of the complaints about the rule that many pla…[Read more]

Nat you are incorrect. There is pre measuring allowed! There is no rule that states that a player cannot premeasure anything.

Also, in regard to the example of an order, you can do exactly that. If you don’t premeasure, you won’t know how many moves your order will require, but it won’t make it any less valid. You can still give the order and j…[Read more]

This is why most players give their Generals a command rating of 8 and the brigade commanders a rating of 7 and occasionally 6. It is also why the alternative rules for commander traits work well.

Also, don’t forget that the command roll is subject to modification. If a unit is further than 12 inches away from the commanding officer, there is a -…[Read more]

Wow! I have to say that they were extremely unlucky. I have  never failed to Form Square and I’ve not only been playing since v1 was released, but I suffer from poor dice rolling, too. So much so, that a friend I was helping to play test his Rules began changing them. I pointed out that my poor rolls didn’t mean that his rules were faulty and need…[Read more]

You are really going to have to read through the rules. Yet again, you are missing out important things, like the infantry forming Square if they are being charged to their front. If they Form Square, the cavalry don’t charge home, which then protects the artillery.

To answer your question, yes, the artillery breaks. You can’t choose whether a u…[Read more]

You need to read the rules on hand to hand combat. It is all fully explained there.

For cavalry charging infantry, there may also be the “Must Form Square” Rule to apply, which would mean that the combat doesn’t happen.

anyway, to answer your question, the unit is only destroyed if the break test result states it. As the test was “pass…[Read more]

Your unit gets to maximise its firepower. When in column, firepower is reduced considerably – either down to one third or nothing at all.

Yes, it does refer to something in BP1. However, you could use the alternative rules in BP2 for Commander traits. They give an added flavour to the game, though they are not quite the same as those in version 1.

The traits were a number of options that could be given to a commander. I can’t remember them exactly, but they were basically, A…[Read more]

Yes, The 3pdr would be a light smoothbore. The 6pdr could be either smooth or rifled but I would class it as horse artillery. I only say that because of the wording in the table for ranges on page 56 of BP2.

Right, so take a look at the title, The Armies on page 117. There, in the first paragraph, it states that the majority of the infantry was Bavarian.

The rest of that section gives you some idea of the number of figures used, which is not too important because you have your own unit sizes and Black Powder doesn’t count figures, but it still t…[Read more]

When you say attached, do you mean part of the unit or do you mean it is in the same brigade?

There are rules for brigade squares on page 91 of BP2. These include artillery and more than one battalion of infantry. I would adapt those and place the gun on a corner of the square. That will add some extra firepower to one side of the square.…[Read more]

Page 20 (main rulebook) under Formations. It tells you all about Skirmish formation.

Basically, it tells you about the different way that units use the formation “Skirmish Order”. As a line unit in “Skirmish Order” is not a unit of skirmishers, they do not benefit from being skirmishers.

I don’t comment much on the supplements because I tend no…[Read more]

The line aren’t skirmishers, so the modifiers don’t apply to them. They aren’t skirmishing, they have just adopted Open Order to move through the terrain. Skirmishers are trained to operate in the way that they do and are normally in small or tiny units. There can be exceptions, where a full regiment of light infantry are working as a line unit.…[Read more]

No, there is no penalty. The line infantry are trained to operate in a loose formation in certain terrain conditions. When they leave the terrain they must adopt their default formation as soon as they can. The skirmish units already have certain advantages in their favour already – dice modifiers for shooting and being shot at. In woods all…[Read more]

No we don’t. Must Form Square is a charge reaction.

The part that states Tiny units can only keep to Skirmish Order is advisory. It is not part of the game rules, or it would be repeated in the rule fo Forming Square.

However, as you know, BP allows you to make changes and tweak them to suit your play, so you do what you like, really

No, it states that they can also form into March Column.

I understand what you are saying, but look at page 89 and the Form Square Rule. Nowhere in the book does it say that a tiny unit cannot Form Square. Page 88 tells you that only regular units can Form Square.