Battle Cry

After playing Avalon Hill-Hasbro's Battle Cry, designed by Richard Borg,
many times, I have reached one clear conclusion: it is a great game.
This Civil War game is simple, fun, and plays quickly. 

What's Inside? 

The very large Battle Cry box comes with over a hundred little plastic
figures- Infantry, Artillery, Cavalry, and Generals- in place of
cardboard counters. The figures are grouped into "units." An infantry
unit starts out with four men, a cavalry unit with three, and an
artillery unit with two. This system allows for easy strength reduction;
simply remove a figure when a unit takes losses. The mounted board is a
13x9 hex grid, with each hex providing enough room to accommodate an
entire unit. The board is split into three sections, giving each player
a Left Flank, Center, and Right Flank. However, no real terrain (except
for open ground) is depicted on the map, because the other terrain comes
in the form of cardboard hexes. For each scenario, these hexes are
placed on the map in different configurations to represent the terrain
of that battlefield. The terrains are: Woods, Buildings, Rivers,
Bridges, Fields, Hills, Fences, Rough, Orchards, and Fieldworks. Eight
neat-looking battle dice are included. The rulebook has fifteen battles,
but the modular nature of the game-board and terrain means that
virtually any battle can be simulated. And indeed, many additional
battles can be found on the Internet. The final component of the game is
the deck of Command Cards. Most of them activate a certain number of
units in a certain section. For example, the Probe Left cards allow for
2 units on the left flank to move, while Assault Right cards activate
all units on the right flank. The other cards allow for special events,
such as cavalry charges, force marches, and entrenchment. 

How does it play? 

Each scenario in the rulebook comes with a pictorial representation of
the board, which allows for easy setup of the units and terrain. The
notes may also include special rules pertaining to that battle. The
notes specify which side moves first and the hand-sizes of each side.
Battle Cry uses alternating turns. Each turn, the player plays one card.
Most cards activate a certain number of units. The player can then move
and/or fight with those (and only those) units. Infantry can move one
hex and then fire; artillery can either move one hex or fire; cavalry
units can move three hexes and battle; generals accompany the units to
which they are attached, while lone generals have a movement rate of
three. A few terrain types affect movement. For example, a unit entering
a woods hex must stop moving. Battles are resolved using the battle
dice. A certain number of battle dice are rolled in each attack based on
several factors. Range is the most important factor: infantry fire four
dice at point-blank range, three dice at two-hex range, two dice at
three-hex range… and so on. Artillery fire five dice at point-blank
range, four dice at two-hex range, and so on. Cavalry can only attack
adjacent units, and get three dice. Other factors that affect the number
of battle dice are terrain effects and the presence of a general. The
battle dice have little pictures on the six faces: 2 infantry, 1
cavalry, 1 artillery, 1 cross-sabers (wild), and 1 flag (retreat). A die
roll only cause casualties if it has the same picture as the unit being
fired upon, or if it shows cross-sabers. A flag forces the defender to
retreat one hex. Thus, each dice rolled against an infantry unit has a 3
in 6 chance of hitting, and 1 in 6 chance of forcing a retreat, and a 2
in 6 chance of causing no damage. At the end of the turn, the player
draws another card to refill his/her hand. Then the next player's turn
begins. Victory is based on casualties. You must completely eliminate
(not just damage) any combination of six units to win. 

Assessment 

The game is usually quite fun to play, even when you are losing. It is
visually quite appealing, the terrain hexes and various figures creating
a great-looking battle. The rules are simple and well-written, and the
game is easy to teach to others. Finally, Battle Cry doesn't take very
long to play. Setup usually takes about 5-10 minutes, and the average
game only lasts about an hour. However, true wargamers will probably
find this game a bit simplistic. But after all, it makes no claim to
being an accurate simulation, just a fun game. And it does accomplish
that. Also, the luck factor can be a bit overwhelming, with dice rolls
and card draws sometimes stopping even the best strategy. Overall: 9 out
of 10. Although I own over twenty wargames, this one is the game I play
most often. 

Variants 

Finally, for those who want to reduce the luck factor and add some more
strategy, many variants can be found on the Web. I find the following
three to be both quite good and easy to implement. 1. A unit that is
forced to retreat off the board loses one figure and stays in place
instead. Now, a lucky shot can't destroy an entire unit. However, the
edges of the board still remain a fairly dangerous place, forcing both
sides to advance. 2. An infantry unit, when activated, can move one
space and battle OR move two spaces and not battle. The Force March card
is unchanged. This choice adds more strategy to the game: will you
slowly advance while firing, or charge across the open? Also, it allows
infantry units in reserve to march twice as quickly to the front. 3.
Instead of drawing just one card each turn, you draw two. Choose one to
keep in your hand and place the other in the discard pile. This variant
increases the importance of skill over the luck of the card draw.
Although some choices will be obvious (ex. a Left Skirmish and a Left
Assault), you will be faced with many agonizing decisions over which
card to choose. However, this variant does make the All-Out-Offensive
card show up more often, so you may want to remove it from the deck. 

-Matthew I., Dec 2002