This one is for serious Civil War buffs only.
Do you have a passing interest in the American Civil War? Perhaps you've watched the great Ken Burns documentary... maybe even more than once. Maybe you've even taken a family vacation to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to walk with the ghosts on that hallowed ground. If that's as far as your interest runs, AGEOD's American Civil War is not for you, because you need to be a full-fledged Civil War freak to get the most out of what this game has to offer. But if you do fall into that small niche group, then The Blue and the Gray may be your dream game. It's like playing a detailed Civil War boardgame but without removing any of the minutia, complete with mounds of data and the type of intricacy that only a true grognard can appreciate.
The game is broad in scope; this is an operational-level war game that focuses on the big picture and not individual battles. For example, when armies meet on the map you are presented with a quick sound of clashing soldiers and then the result, no muss no fuss. It's not a game about trying to outflank your opponent or deciding when to charge with your cavalry. It's more about basic army composition, destroying rail lines to disrupt enemy supply, keeping your nation happy and content so it produce quality soldiers for your cause, and destroying the other side's will to fight.
That's not to say there isn't a lot of detail. Regiments alone are rated in various categories of standard stuff like attack and defense, ammo, rate of fire and discipline but also in areas like cohesion, detection, and even "police," which is a unit's ability to quash potential unrest in a city. Some historical gamers eat this sort of stuff up, but for others it's simply going to be too much to worry about. Commanders are also meticulously rated in various categories, and again, this level of detail certainly drives home the notion that Grant was a more efficient general than Burnside, but to what end?
The game's two tutorials do little to give new players any real direction. In fact, all the tutorials do is hammer home the fact that the interface is a bit messy and that the game's level of detail is astonishing. Even when you're done with the tutorials and have read most of the 80-page rulebook, launching one of the game's many scenarios and campaigns leaves you with a feeling, at least at first, of "ok... now what do I do?"
What's interesting, however, is that once you dig and claw your way through the unfriendly interface you're left with a fun operational-level war game. So there is some payoff to learning the system. ACW uses the WEGO system, a simultaneous turn-based design which makes it tougher to get the jump on enemy locations. Thanks to the brilliant use of fog of war, getting as much information about the enemy whereabouts as possible is crucial to success. The AI is rock-solid, rarely leaving an obvious opening. Thanks to the WEGO system, trying to predict or anticipate what an enemy army is going to do next is nerve-wracking... in a good way.
Another aspect is the ability to assign generals to specific chains of command. You can break down every army corps, division... right down the line. The interface really gets in the way here, though, making this a whole lot more difficult than it needs to be because if these generals are unfamiliar to you, figuring out the proper command, rank, etc. is a huge pain. Again, once you get past the curve it works well enough and is actually a pretty nifty feature but there should be a better way to handle it.
The game just can't seem to get out from under its own desire to simulate everything; in the end it's like being shot in the face with numbers, and it's so easy to make a seemingly harmless mistake and have it cost you. Maybe you assigned the wrong general to a division command or you were so worried about some other factor that you forgot something basic like keeping an army in supply. It's information overload for all but the most eager and dedicated gamers.
It does look good -- it's bright, colorful and the period art is great, as is the music -- but it's impossible to recommend for anyone other than the hardest of the hardcore. For those gamers, this is a no-brainer. To the grognard, this level of detail is an absolute must, a requirement in every sense of the word. But to others, even casual fans of history and the Civil War, it's just too much information wrapped inside an impenetrable interface. AGEOD's American Civil War is an intimidating game, one that will overwhelm new players with data while wargaming vets will embrace the PBEM play and level of difficult. Where you fall is a matter of perspective.
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