Black Powder Rebellion

Disclaimer: This is not a physical product. You will receive a digital download of your eBook after your purchase.

I have been recreating the battles of the American Rebellion on the tabletop for longer than I have actually had a tabletop of my own and for almost as long as I have been wargaming. Whilst I am not one of those who can stick to a single wargames period year in and year out, it is always this particular conflict to which I return. It is difficult to give precise reasons for this continuing fascination but I have always felt that the rebellion encapsulates all of those things that make wargaming so attractive as a hobby in the first place.

For the those who enjoy the spectacle there are a multitude of different types of soldier to model, mostly in ragged “campaign” dress and including regular troops from Britain, France and even Spain; Continental troops providing America with its first regular army; Provincial regiments composed of colonists who remained loyal to the Crown and lastly the militia, the majority of whom fought for the rebellion in both uniform and civilian dress.

If your interest is the personalities who populate history then the rebellion can offer you feuding generals in both the British and Continental armies, heroic officers leading daring assaults, buffoons, gamblers and renegades, all of whom add character to our battles and campaigns. These individuals lived through and influenced a rich and absorbing series of events that could almost have been written purposely for the wargamer.

The tacticians in the hobby can find much to engage them in the innovative fighting methods developed during the rebellion. The difficulty of the terrain and the relative lack of cavalry compared with European warfare permitted infantry to operate in open formations of a sort that would take another century to become commonplace in the Old World. Battles therefore occurred on ground that would seldom have been deemed practical in European wars, adding a fresh challenge to our generalship.

These then are the features that I feel give the rebellion its unique character and make it such a fascinating background to a game. Within the pages of this book you will find a brief chronology of the rebellion, descriptions of the commanders and fighting men who participated in its battles and, most importantly, descriptions of a number of these battles with ideas on recreating them using the Black Powder rules. For those already beguiled by the period I hope that you find the book an interesting and useful addition to your libraries and to those who are approaching the rebellion for the first time, welcome aboard and I hope you enjoy the ride!