Last night we played another game of Black Powder set in 1808 using the Russian and Swedish armies. This game was not based on any sort of historical event, instead I hastily devised a generic scenario. The idea was that one out three Swedish brigades had captured a strategicly important crossroads, while all three Russian brigades are closing in fast. One Swedish brigade starts in the center of the table, two Russian brigades start on their table edge. A third Russian brigade enters from the right hand side of the table from turn two on a dice roll of 4 or more; the second and third Swedish brigades enter from turn three, again on a 4+.
The armies of both sides were evenly matched, with three smallish brigades of three infantry battalions on each side, plus one 6-pdr and one 3-pdr gun and two cavalry squadrons per side. About a third of the infantry were jägers. Althogether, the armies were not based on any particular historical order of battle, but they were generally similar to what would have been fielded in the major engagements in Finland at the time.
The game turned out to be a disaster for the Swedes, partly because the second and third brigades arrived too late, partly because of an aggressive attack by the two Russian brigaes on the advanced brigade in the center. The scenario could have been tweaked and planned a little better. However, the really good thing was that we achieved an unusually fast-paced game which was concluded with a clear victory for the Russians within a reasonable amount of time. In that sense, the scenario worked: the Russians had an incentive to play aggressively, which they did, and that payed off.
Pancratist 