Tag Archives: 6mm napoleonics

6mm Black Powder Gaming – Part 1

I have bought the new Epic Battles: Waterloo by Warlord Games and I’m slowly making my way through the painting much like Declan (when I’m not painting those pesky Kruleboyz). However, one thing I’ve noticed (as I’m sure many others have as well), is that the models are epic in scale but the basing and the rules are standard Black Powder. What I mean by this is that a standard unit in Epic:Waterloo is the same as a standard unit in regular Black Powder.

Credit: Yith’s Wagaming Blog – Check it out, its a fantastic read

This got me thinking to how you could have truly cinematic and epic battles in Black Powder by converting the inches to centimetres (like many others have done).

By doing this, you can play a regular game of black Powder on a much smaller play area – 2.4 feet by 1.6 feet rather then 6′ x 4′. But also, it gives you the option of playing much, much larger games on a regular table.

The only issue is the basing and miniatures. if you take a standard unit in Black Powder with a frontage of 240mm and divide this so it suits the cm measurements rather than inches (i.e. dividing 240mm by 2.5) you’ll get a standard unit frontage of 96mm (let’s call it 10cm). If we use increments of 20mm then the basing could look something like this:

The great thing about his, is that if you use Baccus Napoleonic 6mm infantry you can get two large bases completed for just £8.00!

But what about different formations. Well these could either be represented by a dice in one of the dice holders on the base (i.e. 3, for line, 4 for square etc) or you could just model some other bases as Square and attack column etc. I’m inclined by the later personally.

The other dice holder can also be used to measure the units stamina. For Dice holders I’m always inclined to use Pendraken.

But I’d like to know the opinions of those experienced in Black Powder and what they think!

What is Blucher?

BOARD GAME GEEK SUMMARY

Blucher is a tabletop game of the great battles of the Napoleonic Wars. Command an entire army from the first reconnaissance of the enemy to the deployment of forces and husbanding of reserves to the bombardment and engagement, and the final commitment of elite shock forces that will shatter the enemy’s weary defenders.

Blucher can be played with miniature figurines and terrain or with “unit cards” on any flat surface. You may in fact use both in the same game, since the cards provide a wonderful “fog of war” that conceals your forces until they are close enough to the enemy to be identified and represented with miniature figurines.

It has been given a rating of 8.2 on BoardGameGeek from 50+ ratings.

Epic Fox Table Top has produced a series of videos that are great at explaining the mechanics of Blucher.

1. Part One

2. Part Two

3. Part Three

If you’re interested in getting into Blucher. I can’t suggest you start anywhere else but these excellent collection of videos.

— Peter

Napoleonic Wargame Free to Download

I’ve added a page to the website called Wargame Rules. In there you will find any rules for scenarios or wargames that I write. At the moment its pretty empty apart from one item which is Clausewitz.

Clausewitz is the Napoleonic wargame I’ve been working on for a number of years now. This is still very much a work in progress but I’m pleased to say it’s at a stage now where I feel comfortable releasing it for public consumption.

What is Clausewitz?

Clausewitz is a Corp level game designed primarily for 6mm Napoleonic warfare. I always wanted a Napoleonic game which focused on the whole battle but where what the individual battalions actions were still important to the outcome. Therefore in Clausewitz although the basic unit is the Brigade, those brigades are made up of individual elements called Battalions or Squadrons. Think of this like individual models inside a squad in a game like 40k or AoS.

The key features of Clausewitz include:

  • A departure from the traditional IgoUgo turn sequence and instead relies upon chips drawn from a bag to represent a Generals actions in the turn (with each turn representing 10 minutes of battle).
  • The game is driven by your Generals, they must position themselves and activate the right units at the right time in order to win the day.
  • Objectives – There are six objectives and units can only claim an objective (and therefore score points) if a General has ordered them to do so.
  • Mini-Game – there is an optional fun mini pre-game to the main event in which your light troops determine the deployment zone in the upcoming battle.
  • Formations matter! Brigade formations and individual unit formations are presented in an intuitive fashion. The players must ensure that their units are in the right formations for the task at hand!

Alternatively there are two mods on Tabletop Simulator just for Clausewitz, the first being the test bed which is used to test the various rules as they are implemented or adjusted and the second being the Battle of Elchingen 1805, where the Austrians attempt to defend against the French advance.

Test Bed

Battle of Elchingen

So why not give it a go and send your feedback to help me improve it?