Review:
Black Powder

King George commands and we obey,
Over the hills and far away...

A historic wargame rule-set from Rick Priestley and Jervis Johnson, focusing on an enjoyable experience and not strict competitiveness.

Published by Warlord games, Black Powder is a game primarily focusing on warfare around the Napoleonic era, when rifles were the primary armament of soldiers, although battles ranging from 1700 to the 1900s are featured. The game is based more on having a fun time than just winning – there are no points values, players are expected to either play the historic scenarios in the book or to discuss a game beforehand and work out how to balance their forces.

The rules are based on the same fundamentals as Epic 40k and Warmaster – your army is split into brigades, which consist of units. To move them you need to pass a command check to represent the orders being given and distributed correctly. Said orders have to be specific however, as the nature of success in this game means that if you just tell a unit to advance, they may end up sprinting across the board rather than just to the hedge you meant. Orders are given on a brigade level, although you can give different orders to different units. Success in command checks is usually attained through rolling beneath the brigade commander's leadership, but every other point under is an increasing degree of success (so a move order on Ld7 that rolled 5 gets two moves, 4 is three moves). Charges function in the same manner, with a command check being required to make the unit do what you want it to do.

Apart from that, a turn is fairly typical. You move, you shoot, you resolve combat, then pass the turn to your opponent. There is no need to check command for shooting and melee, as it is assumed your soldiers are actually competent to some degree. Combat and shooting is worked out by rolling numbers of dice – the exact amount is stated in each unit's stat-line. Typically 5s and 6s are hits, which the opponent can negate by passing morale saves (essentially an armour save known by another name). Failure to negate these hits adds wound counters to the unit, and once these hit a certain limit, the unit must make command checks each turn to stay in the battle (here we see a slight similarity to Epic's blast markers). Combat also promotes the grouping of units, as during combat, nearby units provide a support bonus which can negate the result of bad rolls and ensure the opposing unit breaks.