Black Powder

Hey folks, bit of a recommendation here. I recently read the Black Powder rulebook and found it an excellent read. As far as rulebooks went the tone was really light and funny, and was overall a great read. They poked fun at "playing with toy soldiers" throughout. It was full colour and full of great minis, and showed historical gaming at its best (or at least its prettiest).

The lack of fleshed out army lists was refreshing, and left a lot to imagination. Since the book covers 100+ years of warfare and multiple conflicts, they could have written exhaustive lists and made the book twice as long (and much more tedious). Instead they offer a list or two for each era (Carlist War, Seven Years War, etc) and give a brief outline of forces. For me this stimulated me to look into Osprey and history books of those eras, as I'm not much of a history buff. Any game that gets my brain turning on an era is something I appreciate.

I was reading a friend's copy, but will pick one up when I make a large mail order. Found it overall a good read, maturely written, and ultimately a game that trusts the reader. It doesn't seek to spell things out to the Nth degree or encourage "list building", but player creativity and passion. After reading too many tourney-style game rulebooks it was really refreshing.

There are certainly more in-depth reviews out there and I'd encourage you to read them, but I'd certainly recommend it for the reader who is weary of wondering "how many MEQ's will it kill?".

cool... thanks for the info.

If you're thinking of picking up a couple of Osprey books, on my last trip to Austin I spotted two gems...one on Renaissance Armies & the other on The Wars of Religion [Thirty Years War]. They used BEAUTIFULLY PAINTED minis to illustrate the books. At $25 each for publications that were easily twice the size of Osprey's normal works, I thought they were a bargain...I could kick myself for not picking up the pair; fortunately old age prevents this . HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Cool, what series of Osprey books would that be from? I have been reading the "Men at Arms" series... insanely fun reads. Everything from "The history of Flak Vests" to "Armies of Ancient China". They're the straight history ones with 5-8 colour prints per book.

I'm not sure what the series is called, but the illustrations using the minis ran through the entire book(s)...I mostly stared at the Renaissance. Each of the armies/national forces had a break down of the troop types each with minis for illustrations. They may very well be meant to compliment the Black Powder Rules...scuttlebutt has it a Shot & Pike set of rules is cooking out there.

I've heard all sorts of good stuff about the Black Powder Rules. I KNOW I'm going to crack & buy a copy...I'm SO weak.

I'll keep an eye out for those books, they sound quite different than the other model-related books I've seen by Osprey (the tank related books).

Found a very interesting interview with Rick Priestly explaining some of the design of Black Powder: http://www.warlordgames.co.uk/?p=4695 .... and a tidbit:

"The truth is it is a slight parody, in so much as it’s a book about gaming presented as a set of wargaming rules."

UPDATE of sorts : Old John decided we should hit the games store (historical, if you ca believe that): SO, overcoming my naturally cheap nature, I picked up a copy of Trade & Treachery (Renaissance) & Wars of Religion (Thirty Years War Through the English Civil War). The books are meant to compliment Field of Glory Renaissance Rules...that is, shot & pike. From just a scan of the books, I'm impressed & , for once, will not be guilt-tripping myself about spending the $S...I even sprang for a box of Warlord Royalist E.C.W Infantry.
SO, fascinating though they are, these two lovely books cover the period just prior to the Black Powder Rules.

I'll keep an eye out for Field of Glory books. I know they carry the series in some Canadian book store chains, but it's not worth buying from them (the LGS is more deserving of my blood-soaked cash). Bell of Lost Souls posted a glowing review of the FoG Renaissance rules this week, though it doesn't tell as much about the game as I'd like.

I'm enjoying the foray into historicals. The more I think about it, the more I want to have a North American themed set. French garrison of Louisbourg (fort in modern-day Cape Breton), "Plains of Abraham" Brits and French, or any number of fun little settings are possible.

NOW YOUR TALKING...French & Indian War is COOL...as are most Horse & Musket style games. Here's an article from Lead Adventure Forums about the F&IW using the Sharp Practice Rules from Two Fat Lardies: http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?topic=24367.0 . I think you might like this...skip to page two; that's where the photos start.

ADDENDUM: There's a supplement for Black Powder due out that deals with "shotte & pike". Here's some pictures of a game at Crisis 2010 using the modified rules: http://www.lead-adventure.de/index.php?topic=23917.0 . Cool, eh?!

Field of Glory books looks wery impressive.... but some boring I turn over the pages of dozen, and they not cost their price.

DBA 2.2 is our choice!
And I was impress extraordinary free rules of "Crown of Paper" (War of Roses)
http://perfectcaptain.50megs.com/acop.html


Well ... I am more fan of Ancient Age - Ancient Rome, sword, shield & honour etc

Modern\|Future Era I love also).

Black Powder - not bad rules! Because of Pristly, of course
not even my favorite era. But I have plans for few plays...

A little bit of Black Powder inspiration:

Wow, that is an awesome looking table! I never really pictured skirmish games for historicals. Great links Deafnala, I must check out the Lead Adventure forum more often (used to visit, but it's been a while).

Found this last week, an amazing range of models! Extremely reasonably priced, too. Usually 12 Ameribucks for 6 models. Certainly got my brain turning!

http://www.conquestminiatures.com/

There are a fair number of rule sets available for historical skirmish gaming. The one that I'm most familiar with is The Sword & The Flame, which covers the Colonial Wars with a supplement for F.I.W., the Boxer Rebellion, & French Foreign Legion vs Bedouins.
Since historical games even at the skirmish level tend to be larger than their sci-fi/fantasy brethren, the minis tend to be much less expensive...there's also a tendency for them to be focused on smaller scale minis; i.e., 6mm, 10mm, 15mm, that sort of thing. Here's another on-line store to check out: http://www.oldglory25s.com/ .

I'm really enjoying the sharing that is going on here. I am currently involved in a campaign using the Napoleon's Battles rules from Lost Battalion http://www.lostbattaliongames.com/p2-36-napoleons-battles-base-game.aspx

The opposite of a Skirmish Game this rule set allows you to command full armies (although that would be challenging without some help) with the smallest level represented being the Brigade. We have instituted a number of house rules to balance the game but overall I am impressed, although this is the only historical rule set I have played.

A blog of the previous campaign can be found here, http://www.lostbattaliongames.com/p2-36-napoleons-battles-base-game.aspx we are currently involved in a French invasion of Prussia. Also some of the guys are getting into Fields of Glory Renaissance and seem impressed, I am entertaining the idea of converting by warhammer Empire army to be playable with those rules.

Dread_kennedy are you in Canada?

The Napoleon's Battles looks cool...there's an American Civil War game that uses brigades as the basic units also; I think the rule set is called Fire & Fury.
When the group I used to game with switched from 54mm minis to 30s, we changed from 18th century to Napoleonics. First with Don Featherstone's Horse & Musket Rules, then Jack Scruby's, & finally Fred Vietmeyer's Column, Line, & Square. C.L.&S. useda 1:20 ratio; SO there were a LOT of minis necessary...at 650 minis my Wurttemburgers were among the smallest of armies. Some of the Big Boys topped 5or6K.
Last I heard the group, minus some of us Old Guys who have moved away or died, is still going strong after 45 years of gaming.