‘Into the Valley of Death’ is Warlord Games’ latest Black Powder supplement. It has just been published to coincide with the release of a new miniatures from Warlord, building on the existing but previously incomplete range. (Even with the many new additions there are gaps, e.g. no Turks, no Russian sailors, no Sardinians). Hopefully these will be added in time but …….? Anything that promotes the Crimean War as a fascinating and colourful period well worth exploring is probably most welcome.
What do you get for your money? The book follows the usual format outlining the background to the war before looking at the armies of each of the protagonists, including unit characteristics and special rules. There are loads of excellent examples of eye candy as one would expect.
I’ve been gaming the Crimea for many years using BP with my own amendments and statistics and I have to say my first impression of what was presented in this new supplement was, and remains, underwhelming. Ok, much of this stuff is about the author’s perspective and understanding of the war and the troops involved, as against what I believe. However, there do seem to be some fundamental errors, inconsistencies and oversights, as well as to me some odd stats and special rules that make no sense to my simple brain. The good thing about all BP supplements is that you can still do you own thing based upon your own research, which is what I have always done. There’s no need therefore to go through the numerous bits in the supplement that I would challenge on an item by item basis.
One example I found puzzling; I was surprised that the British cavalry regiments are classed as ‘standard ‘ units, even given the fact that they were woefully under strength even by the time they hit the beach. I would have thought they would have been more accurately classed as ‘small’. Maybe the author’s approach is to give them enough wallop to take on their Russian foes. There are other ways and means to achieve that goal. Maybe it’s because Warlord sell 12-figure units of cavalry? Also, in terms of muskets, the British 4th Division and I recall a fair few French were still armed with smoothbore muskets. Easily fixed I guess.
The free miniature is carrying a pathetically small-sized flag, less of a flag, more of a handkerchief and my free sprue was some French Napoleonic infantry (why not one from the Crimean range?) The artwork on the from cover also looks a bit weird in my eyes.
Overall, this is pretty much as I expected and the low bar I was anticipating was achieved. As a Crimean War primer the book is fine and probably worth the money for the eye candy alone. I don’t regret buying it but I doubt I shall adopt the characteristics and so forth in my next Crimean game.
