I’ve recently purchased ‘Black Powder’ from Warlord Games. I’ve had a trial game with my son, and my first game against a member of my wargame club is for the Franco Prussian War.
We will be using a scenario the club has played a number of times with a number of different rule sets- I thought this would be a good way to compare the rules.
I invite other Black Powder and/or FPW players to comment on my take on the roster and rules.
The original scenario:
FPEveninggame3
Prussian Roster for Black Powder:
Black Powder Roster FPW PRUSSIAN
French Roster for Black Powder:
Black Powder Roster FPW FRENCH
Please feel free to comment on the rosters/scenario rules.
The QR sheets here.
I think the French infantry should be rated unreliable to reflect the passive stance of the Imperial army in 1870. And perhaps the Prussians should get a Jager battalion, although all those guns and the hills may be enough.
The way I understand it is that the French troops were good, but that the command was crap. Having just done some stats work on the command probabilities (which I have placed on The Miniatures Page here –
http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=191673)
I may reduce all command by 1 (both sides)
Nice job. I add this link on the french forum to have some comments
Rethinking it, instead of unreliable infantry, just make Imperial French command level worse. It was. By the Republican period it wasn’t bad but the troops were mostly conscripts.
Yhe French Imperial command level should be demonstrably worse than the Prussians. Perhaps bad command for the Bavarians, since they were not enthusiastic.
First of all, thanks!
I’ve been thinking about FPW BP myself but not been happy with some of rules as they stand. However, these stats look good and I’ll try to give this scenario a go myself soon.
By making the Chassepot range greater than maximum infantry movement distance (and more than twice the standard cavalry move) you go some way to removing my main bugbear with BP for this period – the ability of the Prussians to close and open fire first.
By giving the Prussians the extra benefit of ‘steady when in column’ (rather than an overall better command rating) you should tempt the Prussians to keep in that formation to close with the French.
I would suggest removing the +1 morale for being in column in this period, however. When firing at long ranges the denser targets must have been easier to hit than relatively thinner lines, and at shorter ranges the powerful bullets would have more effect on a deep formation. The Prussians soon stopped using the columns so offensively: there must have been a reason.
You might also consider ‘national characteristics’ modifications to commanders’ personalities: perhaps 5-6 for Prussians to have positive aggression, decisiveness and independence, and 1-2 for French to have negative factors.
Interesting to see a number of comments on this period as it is not the most popular part of history to play on the tabletop,which is a shame really.
Myself i would drop the french command rating to 7 except General Louis Faidherbe leave him at a 8,this gives the prussians a good chance to out-manoeuvre the french,the shooting for the prussians at closer range should be alot more damage than the french…at longer range there was little differnce between the two,i would like to say though B.P rules are a great set of rules and so easy to adjust to any period you like,they are fast and not boring like some i know…flags for models are hard to find but i decided to make them myself and put this website to download http://blackpowderrules.proboards.com/index.cgi if anybody needs flags for certain regiments,feel free to pm me and i will create them for you.
I’ve been thinking of using BPB for FPW myself. When I skimmed your OOB for your scenario I didn’t notice if you made the Prussian battalions bigger than the French. During the Imperial phase, the French battalions were understrength (around 600 men) while the Prussians were at full strength (1000 men). So I was wondering if you rated the Prussians as a Large unit and the French as normal size (or the Prussians as normal and the French as Small)?
No I didn’t adjust the sizes. It is an old scenario a mate has run with a number of different rule sets- it was a first run with BP
I am going to try this tomorrow night. I will play as is, but make the Prussians Big Bns. Mainly as my stuff is based for They Died For Glory, with Prussians having 20 figure Bns and the French 16, except for the Chasseurs.
I may take a camera with me!
Nick
We had quite a good game and our next step is to have a go at the Scenareo in WI from last year. As both sides were based the same it was not a problem. The size of the Prussian units just gave them the edge as with the limited Prussian arty generally by the time any of the Prussians managed to charge they had all 2 casualty markers!
One of my understandings of the period is that the impact fuse of the Prussian shells was very effective compared to that of the French. To this end we may add an extra -1 on the save roll when fired at med/long range by Prussian guns. Otherwise Prussian and French guns are exactly the same except the Prussians have a slightly longer range.
With They Died for Glory guns have a limited amount of ammo. I have Prussian Caissons that move to the guns to re-supply, the French, however, have to limber up and move to the rear. Not sure if this would work with BP
We had quite a good little game, used the 15mm ranges for a 25mm game – 6 x 4 table. My one comment is that the Prussian and French Arty are on an equal par, except for the slightly longer range of the former.
My reading is that one factor in the effectivness of the Prussian arty was the impact fuses of the shells. It would appear that when a Prussian shell landed it would detonate and cause a lot of damage. The French fuses were timed and not reliable, a wrong time and the shell would simply bury itself in the ground. We will try an extra -1 to the save roll against Prussian arty, unless it drastically changes the game.
I’ll point out FPW isn’t a period I have a lot to do with. I play if someone at the club is running a game, but I have no figures, and know only 3 facts about the war (one of which is the besieged French ended up having to eat the contents of Paris Zoo). The scenario is one used at the club, and was a first attempt at BP for me, hance any “WTF” moments you might have had.