Matrix Games (www.matrixgames.com) and Double Shot Design (www.doubleshotdesign.com) today announced an agreement to publish the first of a series of black powder-era wargames. Black Powder Wars: Battles Of Napoleon will cover Napoleonic-era tactical combat with full multiplayer and scenario editor support.

David Heath, Director of Operations at Matrix Games, said, "We are on a Napoleonic roll, with three releases due this year, each covering a different scale of Napoleonic warfare. The Double Shot Design team has skillfully developed Black Powder Wars: Battles Of Napoleon to fill the tactical Napoleonic niche."

Black Powder Wars: Battles Of Napoleon may be the first in a new series, but many wargame development veterans have been involved in its creation from the beginning, from programmer Frank Hunter to artists Joe Amoral and Steve Ford. Featuring simultaneous action resolution in a WEGO format and PBEM, solitaire, TCP/IP and hotseat capability, Black Powder Wars: Battles Of Napoleon make intense Napoleonic battles against the AI and human opponents a reality.

The top down map scale is 100 meters per hex at 10 minutes per turn. Both the map and the unit art are editable and a full scenario creator allows each customer to modify maps, units, leaders, game data and AI instructions. Combat is resolved in detail including losses to the man and gun, unit morale, leader effects, positions, formations, command and control and construction and demolition. Weather is fully modelled, with effects on combat, movement and fog of war. Eighteen different terrain types are represented in all four seasons, plus fourteen hexside types and five types of roads.

Tim Coakley, Designer of Black Powder Wars: Battles of Napoleon, stated, "Our team is familiar with the great crew and community at Matrix Games. We couldn't ask for a better partner to get Black Powder Wars out to discerning Napoleonic gamers around the world."

Black Powder Wars: Battles Of Napoleon includes over 3000 individual unit pictures and will ship with over a dozen scenarios focused on Napoleon's 1807 Campaign in Poland, with additional professionally designed scenarios available after release. The full editing tool kit will allow owners to re-create any battle of the period, with new orders of battle, maps and graphics. Black Powder Wars: Battles of Napoleon is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2005 and development is currently ongoing.