Trying out Epic ACW Black Powder

For the next issue of WS&S, we are doing a 'Let's Play' on the new Epic ACW Black Powder from Warlord Games. Fortunately, we managed to play a few games before the current Covid Lockdown. I thought I'd give you all a rundown on our experience.

Warlord has chosen the curious scale of 13.5mm 'foot to eye' (or 15mm tall) for their new Epic plastic figures. The cynic in me thinks they wanted a unique scale as a selling point to go with. Well, it worked!

As no complete boxed sets ready as yet, we had to do some 'old fashioned' improvising. The bases used in the game are 20mm x 60mm, so I had to dig out my spare bases box and improvise with everything I had (yes, there were a few 25mm x 50mm bases in there too!).

As you can see, the lovely Cigar Box Battles mat helped offset the otherwise plain-looking battle. I can see how impressive the board would look with a full complement of miniatures.

We took one of the scenarios from the new ACW booklet - one which best allowed us to play with only what you'd get in the boxed set, and nothing more. So the battle was purely infantry and cannons, no cavalry.  Not only did we complete the battle in about two hours (despite being unfamiliar with the new rules), but we had great fun.

I admit I did have concerns about this new 'Epic' scale. How would this new scale fit with Black Powder? How do the bases translate into Black Powder units? Would the 32-page booklet be enough to explain how this new system worked?

Everything was well explained and it all worked smoothly on the table - I was, in fact, very impressed. Yes, I'll be looking forward to playing more games of Epic ACW when the miniatures are released. This gets the thumbs up from this cynic. Next time, with luck, we'll be playing with a bunch of pretty miniatures and with a better-looking river!

 

 

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