Blue & Gray: Four American Civil War Battles

Blue & Gray: Four American Civil War Battles presents a single set of rules, which can be used for four different battles: Shiloh, Antietam, Cemetery Hill (an engagement during the Battle of Gettysburg), and Chickamauga. Because there are four separate games in one box, Blue & Gray became known as a "quadrigame".

In addition to the common set of rules, each battle has a few exclusive rules.[1] Compared to "monster" wargames of the time that had more than 1000 counters and lasted for several days, each of these battles uses 100 or fewer counters and can be completed in a few hours.[1]

SPI's 1971 board wargame Napoleon at Waterloo used simplified rules to introduce new players to the hobby of wargaming. In 1975, SPI published Blue & Gray using a form of the same simplified rules. The "quadrigame" feature proved popular, and SPI immediately released another quadrigame of Civil War battles titled Blue & Gray II that covered Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, Chattanooga, and Battle of the Wilderness. Several more battles were published in SPI's house magazine Strategy & Tactics.[2]

In 1983, TSR took over SPI and republished a number of SPI properties under the TSR trademark, including Blue & Gray.[2]

In 1995, Decision Games obtained the rights to Blue & Gray and published a new edition that removed the Battle of Antietam and added the First and Second Battles of Bull Run.[3]

In a 1976 poll of wargamers conducted by SPI to determine the most popular wargame in America, Blue & Gray placed 7th out of 202 wargames, the best result for an SPI land game.[4]^: 129

In his 1977 book The Comprehensive Guide to Board Wargaming, Nicholas Palmer called this a "Simple tactical surround-and-destroy system"[4]^: 136 Looking at the individual games, Palmer thought Antietam was "A close game.";[4]^: 129 Chickamauga gave the players "lots of options" with "a great deal of manoeuvre and roadblocking";[4]^: 141 Cemetery Hill was "a rather bland Gettysburg";[4]^: 140 and Shiloh was "fought in very rough terrain, which is rather limiting."[4]^: 172

In Issue 54 of Moves, Steve List was not a fan of quadrigames, and considered Blue & Gray to be one of the worst. He rated "Cemetery Hill" a D-, saying, "This creation has many deficiencies, so I am not sure where to start." He rated "Shiloh" a C, noting that "The chief defects of this game are those of the quads as a whole, particularly the attack effectiveness rules." He rated "Antietam" a relatively good B-, and "Chickamauga" a B+, calling it "Easily the best of the B&Gs, this has become a perennail convention tournament favorite, mainly because it is exciting and well balanced."[5]

In Issue 14 of Imagine, Roger Musson was very familiar with the original SPI edition, and found much to like in the TSR edition. Although Musson acknowledged there was some downside to the very simple rules, he thought they opened the door to new players: "Its simplicity makes it low on realism but high on playability — a game can be completed easily in an evening or less. The rules are easily learned, and even for the more experienced player, the games can still be a lot of fun." He concluded, "For those interested in making a start in historical wargaming, I cannot think of a better introduction. Recommended."[1]

At the 1976 Origins Awards, Blue & Gray was a finalist for a Charles S. Roberts Award in the "Best Professional Game" category.[2]

• Fire & Movement's Guide to Strategy Gaming
• Fire & Movement Issues 19, 58, 83, 85, 86, 89, Special Issue #1
• The Wargamer, Issues 3, 32
• Panzerfaust #76
• Paper Wars #24
• Zone of Control #6
• Outposts #5
• Simalacrum #20
• Pursue & Destroy, Vol.1 No. 3
• Enfilade Vol. 1 No. 1
• The Complete Book of Wargames