Black Powder. Heard of it? Seen it? Played it? Smelled it? Coming directly from Games Workshop branded games like Necromunda and Warhammer 40,000, I recently took the plunge into something new. Black Powder is a historic wargame centred around time periods where armies fought in rank and file, shoulder to shoulder, on mismatched square bases. Ok, that last bit might be just the tabletop game.
Last year, I was playing Necromunda at my local gaming store and witnessed a group of respectable older men, clearly friends of many years, setting up a vast array of Napoleonic armies in the back corner table. There was something about it that drew me in. The lack of chaos on the board, the satisfactory arrangement of the units stacked together in blocks or columns, and the fairly bare-bones battlefield bar a few clumps of trees here and there. I was inspired to expand my horizons beyond the grim dark future of the 41st Millenium. I did my research and came across Black Powder 2nd Edition, a 28mm game, the starter set being themed in the battle of Waterloo, 1815.
Black Powder. Heard of it? Seen it? Played it? Smelled it? Coming directly from Games Workshop branded games like Necromunda and Warhammer 40,000, I recently took the plunge into something new. Black Powder is a historic wargame centred around time periods where armies fought in rank and file, shoulder to shoulder, on mismatched square bases. Ok, that last bit might be just the tabletop game.
Last year, I was playing Necromunda at my local gaming store and witnessed a group of respectable older men, clearly friends of many years, setting up a vast array of Napoleonic armies in the back corner table. There was something about it that drew me in. The lack of chaos on the board, the satisfactory arrangement of the units stacked together in blocks or columns, and the fairly bare-bones battlefield bar a few clumps of trees here and there. I was inspired to expand my horizons beyond the grim dark future of the 41st Millenium. I did my research and came across Black Powder 2nd Edition, a 28mm game, the starter set being themed in the battle of Waterloo, 1815.
What’s inside?
Inside you’ll find 12 Chasseurs à Cheval; 48 French infantry; 48 British infantry; 24 Hanoverian Infantry; 1x Metal Royal artillery cannon; 1x metal French foot commander and 1x metal British foot commander. Remember, these are 28mm scale the same as Warhammer 40,000. If ever you sought a proxy for Astra Militarum Infantry, here you go! The assembly required was minimal. The vast majority of the soldiers are already complete except for their heads and backpacks. The heads offer some variation, some with big moustaches, some with small moustaches and some with no moustaches at all. At the end of the day though they’re all going to look very similar. I would have liked to have been able to pose the models more to make unique minis, and don’t get me wrong, there are some ranges that allow you to do that, such as Victrix’s Napoleonic Old Guard kits, but Warlord’s own selection here does not. In that vein, Black Powder 2 also encourages the use of other kits, not just those from Warlord Games, which is a nice touch to show some inclusivity for those who might have older collections or have been collecting from different model ranges.
The rulebook
I got my hands on the set and got to work reading the rulebook … rulebook? I must say, unlike Warhammer, the rules can get rather loose here. It’s more of a guidebook that a RULE book. There are a lot of “don’t do this if you don’t want to” caveats, which is a nice refreshing change from the trenches of 40K where small rule indentations could change the tide of a match. However at first, the rulebook was somewhat hard to follow for this very reason. The way a game plays is really up to the players to decide. Do you want it to be historically accurate? The rules can guide you to that effect. Do you want to go for an epic showdown and have a band of Sharpe’s riflemen holed up against an onslaught of French line infantry? You could do that too if you so wish. How about American Civil War armies striding across farmland amongst cotton-wool smoke? It’s all there. Do you want to witness brave Zulu warriors fighting Ultramarines? You can’t do that in the rules. Don’t be silly.
There is a set of rules in the book dedicated to allowing players to nerf or buff their units as they see fit. This means you can field those badass French Imperial Guardsmen in a small-scale skirmish, but perhaps they’ve had a few too many the night before and their stats aren’t quite up to scratch. It doesn’t ruin the illusion as the battle still shows what you want it to, except it won’t mean one side is trampling over the other. As you read you will see that the rulebook is quite humorous in places which really gives it that human touch, as if a fellow player is trying their best to explain the rules to you. It can show it’s age here and there though. Jests about this being a whisky drinking, cigar smoking men’s-only game don’t land quite as much now as they probably did 20 years ago, but I can understand the image that the writers are trying to paint given the theme of the game. I am sure it was written with no ill will and with thematic humour in line with the rest of the book. None the less, I don’t think it’s a terribly inclusive message for a modern wargaming release.
So, what’s the vibe?
So, in thus far as I’ve divulged it is probably quite clear that this is certainly not a competitively oriented game. It’s clearly designed for a small group of mates to get together and wage war on a Sunday evening – whisky and cigars optional. Inside the box there are A LOT of minis. A Warhammer enjoyer such as myself can only envy the sheer amount one gets to assemble and paint in the Black Powder 28mm starter set. Is it all too good to be true though?
I’ve spoken about my initial impressions of the box and the rulebook. So next, I’m going to talk about my experiencing assembling and painting the models inside. There is a whopping 136 models included in the 2nd Editon Starter set (Currently £87 as of this blog). Yeah, that’s right. Respectfully pop that up your Grey Knights combat patrol and smoke it. This includes both French and British forces ready for a small game on the tabletop.
Basing
The bases that come in the box are a big mixed selection of various sizes. Now, let me spell this out here because it’s one of the fluffy rules about this game. Any model fits any base. There are no rules. The creators had this in mind when designing the game, so that people could use any collection they already had, no matter how they are based, and also to counter some of the production companies who are not consistent with their basing. Use common sense though, don’t put a horse of a tiny base meant for a single soldier. At the end of the day, how wide your units’ bases span in totality will dictate whether it is considered a tiny, small, regular or large unit – which will affect stats. Your best bet is google examples or refer to the rulebook for inspiration. You can get a little bit creative here though if you were so inclined.
The assembly and painting experience
I primed my sprues white, leaning towards saving myself some time by not needing to paint the white parts of the uniform down the line. The detail on the faces and uniforms is really quite intricate and at times I found the primer I used was slightly too thick, masking a bit of the detail. However, in other models, it nicely covered up some of the glaringly poor moulds, especially around the rifle butts. To a casual gamer and very averagely skilled painter like myself though, I didn’t mind really, my imagination filled in the gaps – as it should in this type of thing.
The real turn was when I started properly painting. I began with the Hanoverian infantry. I did a batch of 4. Nice! It felt enjoyable to be painting to a historic image of a particular soldier’s uniform. So, I did another 4. Then, another 4. And then more and more, until had a rank of 24 identical looking soldiers. Ok, that was fine. A different kind of challenge. Ok now onto the French… 48 of them. All the same. Then the British, another 48 – you see where this is going. Now this could be because of my personal preferences, or even just what I’m used to from Warhammer, but this DRAGGED. Some of the official painting guidance from those at Warlord games suggests to save time you paint 48 pairs of boots, then 48 red coats, then 48 pars of hands etc etc. Have you sat and tried it? It is laborious. If you enjoy it then I’m glad for you because you can do a lot this kind of painting with Black Powder. Personally I struggled to stay excited about it and it showed in the slow decline in the quality of my finished minis.
I thought about it on numerous occasions – why am I not enjoying this? I couldn’t wait to play the games, so I just wanted them to be tabletop ready as soon as possible. I was trying to paint them on the sprue too because they stand so tightly together on the bases and I don’t have the steadiest hand for weaving in and out of the nooks and crannies. Once the ranks are all painted and packed in, they do look satisfying though. But my goodness was I relieved to be done with that part.
Here’s a shocker though: I am an Imperial Guard (or Astra Militarum) player in Warhammer 40,000. What!? How can a GUARD PLAYER like me be moaning about having to paint the same mini over and over again? Well, if you’ll pipe down, I’ll explain. The 40,000 models are all unique, or at least they can be if you want them to be. I loved building and posing each guardsman as its own person. Sometimes I’d name them, give them backstories – the works. This meant that during a game, seeing their journey through battle gave the match that extra flair – Sergeant Gallows, will he lead his men through the smoke and emerge the last man standing in an epic story of survival and heroism? Will he meet his gruesome end at the hand of a chain sword wielding Chaos Space Marine? It’s all to play for and that gets me excited every time. In contrast, Black Powder has little to no customisation options, and unlike Warhammer 40,000 where each model moves and dies independently, a unit in Black Powder moves and dies as 1 block. This means that aside from Generals or Brigade commanders, who can’t be targeted or die anyway, there’s no encouragement to personalise your army beyond giving them a name. Is this a criticism though? Well, no, it is a reflection of my preferences, and of the core difference in these games’ setting. Warhammer 40,000 is fantasy and science-fiction. Black Powder is rooted in realism, historical accuracy and players are encouraged to think about how units would look and act in the real time periods of old, and try to imitate that with their tabletop presence.
Final thoughts
· The painting can be a bit of a chore if you’re like me and want to make bespoke soldiers for each model.
· However if you get a kick out of the historical accuracy and fine detailing, you’ll find it very meditative indeed to sit and paint the contents of this starter set.
· The rules are solidly fluid. The base game is there and easy enough to get to grips with, but there’s more than enough room for you and your opponent(s) to fine tune it to your liking without disrupting the balance of the game.
While I might lean heavily towards the fantastical settings for tabletop wargaming where I can forge my own stories, lore and Imperial heroes and heroines, Black Powder nevertheless looks really nice on the tabletop especially when the armies grow to sweeping sizes. I am really enjoying exploring it, when all is said and done, I do kind of feel like a glass of whisky, a cigar, and to start strutting around yelling “Damn it sir, I am in command!”.
So with my ramblings in mind, I certainly would recommend dipping your toes into something that’s NOT Warhammer for your next hobby project and look at tabletop gaming from a new perspective.
