Napoleonic game with Black Powder

For probably far too long, Pete has been suggesting meeting at his farm to play a Black Powder game using his massive collection of vintage Minifigs Waterloo armies.  This is multi-generational started by his dad and then continued by his brother and him.  Realizing he had invited me many times and I had yet to accept, and thirsting for a larger non-competitive-framework game (so, not Saga, Oathmark, or some such), we finally set a Sunday aside to play out a six-player game he had devised to be run at last year's Enfilade.

After first French move.

We were aiming to start by about 10:00 a.m. but Pete had not been able to get his tables in his garage fully set up nor armies on the table, so we lost a little time doing that and probably did not get the game rolling until 11:00 or 11:30. I took the upstart French, and Pete the British with some Nassau and Brunswick allies.

French light infantry if I recall.

We didn't really agree as to whether to use division break points or not, but there was some rough agreement that the five buildings each constituted an objective marker. 

Nassau troops.

A big difference in playing this big of a game with just two people is that we each had six commanders plus an overall general. In Black Powder 2 the overall general can force a reroll of one failed order per turn, so between that and the sheer number of commanders, at least one or two divisions were liable to do something each turn, even if you were stricken with poor command rolls.

Allied center.

I spent the first few of my turns getting my the French battle line in order, and, once that was done (and noting the British were a little out of line), started pushing forward in well supported groups.

I also leaned into using the commander's "Follow Me" rule to get artillery pieces or certain cavalry units to where I wanted them.

Otherwise, while both sides manouvered about, there was the usual early artillery fire exchanges.

The various guard cavalry units.

But then some Nassau troops got into the small wood facing the French right. Since it was a single unit I set up a supported attack and moved to clear the woods.

French artillery on the small hill at the center of their line.

Pete's beloved British rocket battery.

In the center the British heavy cavalry charged the French dragoons.  I opted to have the single unit counter-charge in order to gain the +1 charge bonus to hit rather than taking the +1 support to combat result.  Both dragoon units would end up falling back behind the safety of the French infantry but the British heavies were left milling around in the middle of the field.

Cavalry clash. French dragoons took worse of it.

Nassau on the move on Allied left flank.

British heavy cavalry and French Dragoons fight it out while Nassau infantry starts to give ground in the woods.

Nassau infantry under attack.

French Line infantry moves into the wood to push out the Nassau.

Having pushed the Nassau infantry out of the small wood, the French right forms up in line and advances.

The French right ends up breaking the Nassau in the wood, and moves up in line just past the woods and starts exchanging musket fire with the remaining Nassau in the building. On French left, mean while, three cavalry units are able to charge from the center of the table and break the lone British cavalry there.

The allied left (Nassau infantry) has fallen back to this house.

British center.

With this mass of French cavalry positioned to loop around to the British rear, the Brunswickers angle to protect the flank. Meanwhile, the infantry on French left leaves the shelter of the farm and woods and advances on the house also defended by the Brunswickers.

French cavalry on extreme British right flank.

As the French Guard infantry began to advance on the center and exchange musketry with the British, a good round of artillery and musket fire broke the stranded British heavy cavalry unit. The Nassau in the building on the British left found themselves littered with casaulties, and the assault on the Brunswick-defended house lasted two rounds but the French succeeded in carrying it. 

French left flank on the advance.

By now it was almost 4:00, and the chill was creeping through my boots, so we had to call the game for the French, who had successfully won over the majority of the objective buildings. Here's a video of the table at roughly end game point.

Overall a great time and a fun game. Some chatting about playing even bigger games (Pete has so many more units that could be added to play). Personally I think the games could benefit from my terrain card draw system to break up the collection of 6"-8" areas of woods or a hill or a house. A randomized deployment table would be fun as well to create unique initial set-ups, although I'm not sure how you take the divisional system into account with that.