Black Powder rules any use for Mars/VSF?

[shadowking1957]

read alot about it and  looked through a book, anyone used them for VSF or anything in the realms of fiction.

Tony

[Will Bailie]

I haven't played yet, but I have read the book.  I suppose BP could be used for VSF, but you will need to write your own rules for machines, steam tanks, fliers or any other steam tech.  There is a provision for early machine guns (Mitrailleuse, Gatling, Gardner) but anything as advanced as a Maxim gun is beyond the scope of BP.  If you are as lazy as I am, you'd be better off finding a different system.

OTOH, it would probably do fine for an action between an Oenotrian battle group and a flying column from Syrtis Major.

[Driscoles]

I cant imagine Brigade Level games with 400+ figures per side on Mars.
I think other rulesets are more suitable.
But BP is definately a good book.

[Luthaaren Von Tegale]

Why not?
As has already been said you'd have to come up with rules for steam vehicles etc; but then who ever plays a set of rules as written anyway - well apart from competion gamers?

I've been reading them over the last week or so and I can see them being used for most non individual skirmish games in future in almost any period before say 1900.

Just because the rules use brigades as an default - don't be put off using lower level forces, for example;

the Commander in cheif could be a battalion commander with three or four "brigadiers" represented by his company commanders who each command 2 - 3 subunits of their own company. That would make the rules a large skirmish game.

Another thing is to remember that the players set the various unit sizes - those given in the rules are just suggestions - so back to my example above I'd think about making each subunit 8-12 figures strong giving a top figure of less than 150 figures a side.

Just a few thoughts I'm considering at the moment.

  vT