Well, Nate and I managed to learn more about Black Powder 2, playing a scenario I found on Jay’s Wargaming Madness. The rough idea is that French troops turn at Quatre Bras to hold of the pursuing Prussian and Allied forces to give Napoleon time to gather additional forces. Play is for 12 turns, and there are some victory points, but the key is to hold Quatre Bras for as long as possible. Or, in my case, to take it.

We used the Black Powder 2 ruleset, with some modifications from the Border Reiver’s Wargaming Club. The major changes we adopted from their house rules were to have the shooting phase first, as well the reduced ranges for weaponry. Otherwise, we played pretty much the vanilla game.

Nate had the French, with 6 brigades, including a reserve heavy cavalry brigade and a brigade of Old Guards and Marines of the Guard who decided to take a stand south of Waterloo. 

My forces consisted of a large Prussian infantry brigade and a brigade of Prussian Hussars and Uhlans. The remained 4 brigades were British, with only 1 being light cavalry. I did, however, have lots of solid red coated infantry with skirmishers, and of course, a rocket, which turned out to be kinda fun.   

We were using the 25mm Minifig Napoleonics that my uncle kindly gifted me. They haven’t been rebased or repaired since their transport, but I think they still look good.

We had to sort out the forces from their boxes and reconstitute battalions. The figures had been based for Airfix rules, and going to Black Powder I needed to cull down to 24 figure battalions (for standard size). We placed the battalions on the table as we built them, without considering the full tactical picture and in so doing Nate ended up with a very powerful right flank. He was happy enough with that, while I moved some troops around and so we started the game with all of his forces on, and my Guard Brigade in reserve off the table. I couldn’t find my disorder or casualty markers, so we improvised, which sadly shows up clearly in the shots. C’est la vie!

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The first turn I moved all of my brigades forward, leaving my reserve off the table to exploit any weaknesses or to hold my left if the Old Guard came forward. My activation rolls were amazing, though the Landwehr refused to move (which set the tone for their involvement throughout the battle). I was quite pleased to see that I was putting pressure across the line, with the attack on my right shaping up nicely.

Nate responded with a counter-attack on my left, with the big Guard Brigade, supported by heavy cavalry. Some chasseurs closed with the 95th on the heights and threw them back behind the Welsh.

My rocket was doing great work. Only works 1 in 6 times, but for me, that was every roll. I disordered a line battalion and followed up with a concerted charge by the Prussian Hussars, who broke the square and left the centre at Quatre Bras open! Huzzah!

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Further right, my Hussars and light dragoons were met by Uhlans, and pushed back in successive waves. Miraculously, neither side lost a cavalry regiment, though it was close.

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My left was holding, but getting shock as the Old Guard and Marines of the Guard advanced. I brought on my Coldstream Guards and Household Cavalry to stabilize my left. I managed to pass every break test though, and my first line of infantry somehow stood toe to toe with the Guard. They didn’t inflict much hurt, but they held!

My right was fully engaged minus a Prussian line battalion that blundered around (I rolled 3 blunders in 2 turns!) while the Landwehr who were busy having lunch. My Hussars were met by French cavalry, who tossed my Hussars back behind my infantry line.

The weight of fire (and my amazing morale saves keeping my men firing) meant that the French battalions, starting with the Swiss, were broken. The French infantry charged my Prussians but were unable to break them, and soon two French brigades were broken.

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My Scots advanced on Quatre Bras, and formed square due to cavalry threat, but held as more battalions came up to take the town. The Cuirassiers (barely visible below) charged my centre, routing the 95th, destroying my Prussian Hussars and then meeting my Uhlans in an inconclusive fight.

On the left the Guard pushed forward, and the Carabiners charged a weakened British battalion, which held and then broke. It was too late though as my right took Quatre Bras. The way to Paris was clear. It was only turn 6, but it was 02:30, and the outcome was obvious.

We had great fun learning the rules, and the play above took 4 hours (which was long as we started at 22:00)! The later turns were much faster as we got to know the rules and I’m certain that future play will have a much faster pace. I was pretty giddy at the sight of the battle in my games room, as I’ve wanted to do Napoleonics since I was a child. I’m relatively new to wargaming, and so to have troops march (or not) across the table while playing with good company was really wonderful and reaffirmed my passion for this hobby.

As for the rules, Black Powder 2 is a fun, but terribly organized game. In contrast, Hail Caesar is well written and clearly laid out. Black Powder 2 rulebook seems to have focused on beautiful pictures rather than ease of use, particularly the index! Nonetheless, it’s a great set of rules for forces of this size, and the various house rules around give a real Napoleonic flavour. We’ll be using the rules again in the near future I’m sure.