Black Powder in the Penisula
Some pictures of our Peninsular testgame with the ‘Black Powder’-rules. ‘Willie’ Massena launched a massive attack with three infantry-brigades in the centre and a cavalry brigade on both flanks. His army was even more colourful than usual, with Dutch, Baden, Wurzburg and Irish troops in the ranks. He faced an allied force led by ‘Celle’ Wellington (Portuguese on the left, British in the centre) and a Spanish division under ‘KarimV’ Iglesias. Was it sheer luck with the dice or just the genius of Willie? The French were not only successful on both flanks but also smashed their columns through the allied centre. The Spanish militia fought unexpectedly well, but most of Picton’s British division did not even participate in combat. This battle was a clear victory for the French, but also left us with some very mixed feelings about the rules. ‘Black Powder’ surely has some interesting concepts, but we met a lot situations that were in contradiction with our idea of how a Napoleonic battle was fought.