Monday, May 28, 2012

Black Powder at Enfilade!

Here's a quick run down of the Black Powder Napoleonic game I hosted at Enfilade! this past Friday night. I had a full game with six players running a combined arms brigade each. Granted this brigade composition isn't historically accurate, but built for more varied game play. The players seemed to like it. IIRC correctly only one of the players had read the rules, and one had played Warmaster - which is what Black Powder is supposedly descended from.  The scenario was based loosely on the Battle of Salamanca - where Marmont's forces were caught with their pantaloons down by Wellington. The French needed to get at least 50 percent of their forces off the western edge of the table to win; the British would win if they prevented this. Without further ado, here is the photographic evidence of this game. (Note: several of the photos were taken by one of the players, Mike Evans of Relic Miniatures).
Initial set up - three French brigades moving in a westerly direction; two of three British brigades already in line facing the French.
British brigade moving through Los Arapiles
British brigade deploying outside of Los Arapiles
French brigades stumbling west
Mancune's French in the center of the battlefield. French Hussars already routed off the field.
GM providing clarification - now let him get back to his drink
Bird's eye view of the center after a couple of turns. Most of the French cavalry having already been destroyed or fled off the battlefield.
View from the east side of the battlefield
West looking east earlier in the battle
GM call - under the influence of several rum and Cokes
Nearing the end of the game, and it appears the players are still smiling
The game was called after about the 5th or 6th turn - who can remember these things in the heat of battle. The British were declared victors - much like history; the French although having being mauled, still had a few remaining units that could have worked their way off the board per the victory conditions, but enough units had been destroyed to prevent their victory condition.

I had a great time hosting this game and really feel Black Powder works well for convention games with gamers who have little or no prior experience with the rules. Black Powder is easy to pick up and yet allows for some friction and unpredictable outcomes. That all said, I am taking a break from the rules, and Napoleonics in general. I am determined to get my Roman Seas game back on track - just ordered a hexed game mat from Hotz. I also plan to paint up some Old Glory Ancients that I picked up at the Bring and Buy for an initial Hail Caesar game (hey, that's close enough to Black Powder ain't it).

14 comments:

  1. It sure looks like a great game. I need to try out BP someday.

    Christopher

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  2. Great looking game, did you share the rum and coke?

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  3. It certainly does look like a splendid time was had by all, stunning set up too.

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  4. Great report Dean! But what an example of the children... gamemastering with rum and coke! ;-)

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  5. Thanks, Gents.

    Angry: I actually had only one of those small bottles that you get on flights - it would've been even crueler to divvy it up amongst the 7 of us. ;)

    Burkhard: I poured the little bottle of rum into my Coke so stealthily no one even knew - maybe they noticed a more relaxed approached to GM calls as the game went on though.

    Thanks again, Dean

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  6. A beautiful looking game Dan, we dare not have any alcohol at a Rejects game. It could get very ugly, even uglier than normal!!

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  7. Drinking rum and coke-ahh cola. Did you put the lime in the coconut and drinkim all up?

    Great little AAR Dean thanks for giving us a look.

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  8. Splendid photos Dean and thanks for the report to.

    Cheers,

    Helen

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  9. Very nice photos!

    What manufacturer were the Spanish buildings from?

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  10. I needed to bug-out early that night and I'm sorry I missed your great looking game.

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  11. Thanks again for the great comments everyone.

    Rob: The church is from Old Glory's Spanish Stucco range and the other two are from Brigade Games - Spanish & Caribbean range.

    Best, Dean

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  12. Thanks! I checked out the Brigade Games collection and they're very nice looking and quite inexpensive.

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  13. I'm glad your game went well and it certainly looks great! Dave Taylor (and friends) put on a Black Powder Nap game at Adepticon in Chicago. I think there was a large Hail Ceasar game too. It would definitely be nice to do something like that in the future.

    Jason

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