Battle Cry

Game by Avalon Hill
Published by Hasbro (I think)
Price: $35 (average)
Number of players: 2
Time: 45 - 60 minutes

Do you know the difference between a Yankee and a damn Yankee?

A Yankee knows when to leave.


Since this was the game that started it all for me, I took a few extra pictures. Let me start by saying that Battle Cry is out of print now, but there are still quite a few people selling used copies on Amazon and on Board Game Geek as well. The price ranges from $10 to $133 depending on the condition. There, that's out of the way.

My copy of Battle Cry has been through around 12 or 13 years of use. I took it with me to University of Mary Washington (where it was played quite frequently), and to Auburn University (where it saw regular play as well). The box has been torn at the corners a little, and there is tape on it, but it is still holding fairly well for the amount of use it has seen.

Dang, that looks like a lot of pieces. A deck of cards, armies for the north and south, terrain tiles, dice, a game board, entrenchment tiles, a rulebook and a neat little plastic tray. On display here are several of the terrain tiles, a few army units, the game board, and a pair of dice. I recently sleeved the cards in this game because they were getting worn slap out, and being that it's out of print, they would be costly to replace.

So as you might guess, one player commands the union army, and the other player commands the confederate army. The game tries to be fairly historically accurate, so there are scenarios listed in the rulebook (without looking I believe it's around 10). To show off just how cool-looking Battle Cry is, I set up the "Battle of Fredericksburg" scenario:

I have done some painting of my figures... When they come new in the box, the union is straight blue and the confederates are straight grey. I was going for "butternut" when I painted these, they came out more "desert khaki", whatever.

You can see blue dotted lines running down the board dividing it into thirds. Your left third is your left flank, then the center, then your right flank. This is important, because you move your units based on the cards you draw. Each card has a section of the battlefield named, as well as the number of units you may activate. Some cards let you move one unit in one section, others let you move 2, 3, or all of your units in a particular section. Some cards call for reinforcements, and others allow you to fire twice. You will notice that in the union right flank they have a large army hiding in the town of Fredericksburg. On the confederate left flank are a few units of infantry and artillery, behind entrenchments and on hills, covering the town daring the union to advance.

Combat is relatively simple. Basically, the closer you are to the enemy the more dice you can roll. You name the target enemy unit you are firing at, determine how many dice to roll, and then the number of symbols you roll that match the enemy unit score hits. You can also score retreats, which force the enemy backwards. The goal to win a scenario is to capture six enemey flags. You capture a flag when you COMPLETELY destroy a unit. My brother Dave's favorite little jerk tactic is to advance his infantry, shoot till they sustain massive casualties, and then back them away and hide behind artillery. It's annoying, really.

The different terrain types matter as well. Hills increase the range of artillery, trees protect units by decreasing the effectiveness of an attacker, buildings over huge defensive bonuses, rivers hamper units inside of them... Even line of sight matter. A unit cannot fire through trees, buildings or hills. There are other terrains as well that are not used in this scenario that have their own effects. The above pictures are just because the game looks so dang cool that I had to show you.

FUN: 5. Always down for a game of Battle Cry, and so is everyone else.

THEME: 5. Historical games usually have rich themes.

QUALITY: 5. It's held up since before 2002 or so, and a lot of heavy use.

ART: 3. It is not a particularly beautiful game.

INTERACTIVITY: 4. Not every move will affect your opponent, but most of them will.

COMPLEXITY: 3. You will probably check the rulebook from time to time. Nothing major.

LUCK: 3. Luck involved in dice rolling and card drawing, but manageable.