Black Powder - Last Arguement of Kings - 4 Player Battle report

Saturday saw a fine game of Black Powder played between myself, Roly, Brett and Reg.

Again I was unable to provide any figures of my own as yet, though was able to provide the venue and table and terrain ;-) And my good lady offered snacks and refreshments so hopefully that counts for something!

Roly and I teamed up and played against Brett and Reg.

There was no particular theme to the game again, call it imaginations if you wish.

Again for simplicity we did take very similar forces, each player commanding two infantry brigades of three battalions each, and a cavalry brigade of three units; two lights and a heavy.

One general commanded each army and each brigade had a brigade commander for which we rolled off for aggression, decisiveness and independence. All of these factors could affect how well our brigadiers would give commands through the game.

All units were considered standard size.
One of the things I rather like about this period are that there are no, or at least few, skirmishers to worry about, nor are there form-square rules to concern ourselves with.

Here's a few pics from the game:

Initial deployments - Brett is checking out Rolys troops. The large hill we played as a 'crested hill', not  a plateau, so you had to be beyond halfway acros to see the other side, in both orientations.

Roly and I advance our forces on the first turn as Reg and Brett look on.

Snacks and refreshments consumed - an army marches on its stomach after all!

Rolys cavalry advance on our right flank

The Duchess leads Bretts forces against Roly

Bretts "HQ" - a fine place to watch the spectacle and enjoy a cup of tea... perhaps a little too 'early' for our period, but it looked too cool to leave out!

Meanwhile the kids had their 40k game in the family room...

...old school orks vs space marines... I believe the orks won! The orks are mine from 20-odd years ago, played by my son Chris. The marines are Bretts son's; Rhys's.

Reg and Brett advance their forces

The first engagements, both shooting and melee

Cavalry set to it on our left flank

Brett advances his infantry boldly presenting my infantry with an enfilade shot!

Cavalry fight and retire as is the way with Black Powder

Rolys fine horse...

...drive back Bretts cavalry - the Duchess is not amused!

Things really hot up in the centre.

Roly sees his error, two fine moves from one command allow him to advance rapidly to meet Bretts line, but then cant fire! And they then face a close range first fire volley backed up by 2 battalion guns - it wasn't pretty!

Can our artillery save the day in the centre? Boom!

Brett throws his cavalry forth again only to see them rout the field

More cavalry shenanigans on the left flank

One of my infantry battalions breaks

...and a cavalry one too!

Final positions

Roly has won the right flank but lost the centre and I have held the left flank... net result, we called it a very enjoyable draw, as we had set no objectives at the start of the game.

A thoroughly enjoyable afternoons gaming. Fine fellows, fine food and drink, fine weather, and fine gaming :-)

Black Powder - Battle Report - SYW 'refresher'

Good pal Roly and I managed a refresher game of Black Powder tonight.

We are both big fans of the game though don't get to play too many games, (mostly because I don't have any complete armies for it as yet) and we have a 4 player multi-header planned for next weekend so thought we'd better get in a quick refresher game to re-acquaint ourselves with the rules.

We played a SYW period game utilising some of the concepts from Last Argument of Kings -  a BP Age of Reason supplement.

We kept it fairly simple, each with identical forces:

• A brigade of two regiments of cavalry - one light and one heavy.
• A brigade of 3 battalions of standard infantry
• A brigade of 3 battalions of standard infantry plus a battalion gun.
• An artillery piece.

We played over a modest set up comprising a small village and fields, with a couple of woods and hills and a small marshy area.

Here's pics from the game:

Initial deployments, I'm holding the side with the village, with Roly advancing toward me.

Rolys opening moves, cavalry advance and flank infantry brigade advances, but centre stalls.

I advanced to meet him, but my artillery blundered and headed off past the village...

I fill the gap between woods and village protecting my flanks

Roly is in range but only with his battalion gun.

Rolys centre finally advances, whilst the opposing cavalry eyeball each other.

I adjust my infantry and refuse a flank. Cavalry fight behind woods.

Roly pauses his advance, we are both waiting to see what will happen on the cavalry flank...

Cavalry mix it up.

I lose a unit that withdraws, but Roly is also shaken and stuck in front on my cavalry that are shaken from prior action!

I manage to recover from shaken and charge back in.

 Scattering Rolys cavalry in turn...

While the cavalry kill each other inconclusively the infantry recommence their closure

 Having shaken two of my leading infantry battalions Rolys risks a charge order but only makes it part way with central unit.

I swing refused flank battalion round into enfilade fire position.

 Roly has taken the fire but 'dodges a bullet' from the enfilade fire... with some good saves.

 But the advance unit is shot to pieces and flees the field.

But Roly's return fire now scatters my two shaken units, breaking my brigade...

Who are forced to retire towards the village.

I finally break the end of Rolys line routing his unit to sustained fire.

Roly's cavalry finally break my last cavalry unit. This breaks a second brigade of mine, and effective breaks my army ending the game.

The final positions. Roly holds the field as my forces are forced to withdraw and abandon the village and crossroads.

My mascot "Tidy" failed to help my dice luck!

A great game as always with Roly, and I love this set of rules.

I claim no honour in presenting these figures to you, they are all Roly's splendid work. They are a mixture of Front Rank and Minden figures.

Oh another little note, we decided to sue pebbles from the garden to record casualties, as we didn't have dead figures, and dice often get knocked away or picked up by mistake.

Looking forward to next weeks game.