I just purchased this:
- bp-cover.jpg (45.46 KiB) Viewed 3585 times
I have read a copy of the rules elsewhere, basically the rules cover wargaming for Napoleonics, the American War of Independence, The Crimean War, The American Civil War, up to the Anglo-Zulu wars and the Sudan.
Obviously this is a very large chunk of history (200 years or so), with a lot of changes in warfare methods and tactics. The rulebook consists of a core set of rules and then special rules for different periods/units. The rules are written for 28mm scale engagements and the book contains numerous lavish pictures of tables set up by Rick Priestly, Jervis Johnson and the Perry brothers, with thousands of models spread over 12' by 8' tables. The game can be played on smaller tables by simply scaling back movement rates and weapons ranges.
There are perhaps two big differences between this and the games we usually play (e.g. Warhammer and Warmahordes). Firstly, as the units are all fairly abstract, no models get removed from the table unless the unit is routed off the board. Units acquire wound markers throughout the game which affect morale and cause them to break eventually.
Secondly, there are no army lists. Players are encouraged to be gentlemanly and not to behave like cads, bounders or rogues. The idea is to pick a battle you want to recreate and place the appropriate forces, or just to make up your own scenarios (with fairly balanced numbers on each side) and see how things go. The entire book is written very nicely, with a tongue in cheek narrative to the games. Now I just need to get some models to make 2 small armies and a sucke...er I mean a gentlemanly grognard willing to try the game out.
Black Powder seems like the Beer and Pretzels version of Historical wargaming so lets keep it that way. Dont go buying models that you arent interested in just for the sake of it. I'm happy with Brits Vs Prussians, at least until we can bully Pikey into getting some French. 
