Battle Cry of Freedom:
A Civil War Card Game
BCOF's Co-Developer, Richard Trevino (left),
plots my destruction. The Alamo Chapel is in the background.
"Battle Cry of Freedom" may be purchased from Decision Games at the website below:
This page was last updated: March 26, 2009
Sequence of Play Card
Click Here for a printable version of a Sequence of Play. Because of the 300 card limit for the game, the two sequence of play cards were not published. The version is handy to have available during play.
On the Horizon
1. Revision of rules: a more conventional format, rather than the current glossary/sequence-of-play layout. I'm aiming for a October '08 completion date for the revision.
Richard Trevino v. David Smith, May 1, 2007: Developer
v. Designer Rematch
Battle Cry of Freedom
First of all, we had a great location to play our BCOF rematch. Once again we were at the Emily Morgan hotel in San Antonio, with our table at a window that looked out across the street at the Alamo. We sat approximately on what would have been right by the northeast corner of the Alamo's north wall. Surrounded by history and Tex-Mex restaurants everywhere!
Richard chose the Union and, as expected, lost the First Battle of Bull Run. After I had good resources the next two turns, while Richard had none, he moaned, groaned and generally complained that he was sure to lose. Yes, things were going my way early. In the first half of Deck 1 (two years per deck) I was rolling—Richard failed to win a battle in the West and Robert E. Lee took the Army of Northern Virginia northward and won a Major Victory at Antietam. Command Points at this time: I had hit my maximum of 12 CPs, while Richard struggled to reach 10. Richard kept stumbling into Virginia but he failed to cross Bull Run creek, save for a brief amphibious threat to the Peninsula that failed to materialize.
Richard seemingly always had a Resource to knock me down and it was all I could do to maintain a slim CP lead. On the other hand I was preventing him from advancing in both East and West. More than half-way into Deck 1 Richard had won only two battles in the West. I ended my first deck well ahead of Richard, ready for the war’s second half. I took the offensive in the West and won Stones River—my CPs were barely ahead, but Richard had still been unable to even attack a Victory Point city. Richard then won in the West and was threatening Vicksburg. He finally was able to launch an assault on the city, but in the Strategic Movement phase I played “Mud March” and he chose to cancel the battle rather than suffer the penalty of drawing four less cards in combat. On the same turn, Lee and Jackson drove northward and I barely won at Gettysburg.
I did not realize it at the time but I was at my high-water mark. Richard pulled the trigger and played the Emancipation Proclamation—for three straight turns taking me down one CP and taking him up one CP, along with his ability to play the key African-American cards. By this time I was more than half- way through my last deck and I was extremely optimistic about my chances. I still had 10 CPs and I thought that Richard had no chance of taking both Vicksburg and Atlanta, which he had to take if he hoped to be able to play the deciding “Presidential Election of 1864.” Richard, in succession, then took Vicksburg and Chattanooga, and he was breathing down my neck at Chickamauga.
I was stunned. In a matter of only three turns, while I still had sufficient CPs and good generals in the West, Richard desperately pulled off three wins in a row—all this when I in my last third of the deck and he was still in the first half of his Deck Two. He had feebly caused me to fall slowly back in the East, so that I was able to transfer two key generals from East to West. At Chickamauga I even played “Strategic Concentration,” bringing me General Longstreet from the East and allowing me to draw three cards—I still lost the battle.
When that turn was over, with only Atlanta left for him to take in the West, I had only one card left in my Play Deck!! Do you see what that meant?!? If I had been able to draw that last card, my deck would be depleted, meaning that the game would be over with my Confederates beating his Union. I knew then that I had lost the game, although Richard thought he had no chance to win. On the last turn of the game I had 7 CPs left and Richard had 15, and Richard placed the Battle of Atlanta card. He now expected me to block with Kennesaw Mountain and the game would be mine, for he had no Turning Movement cards. I just hung my head. I had much earlier played Kennesaw Mountain and the Pickett’s Mill/New Hope Church card. I never waste such cards, but I was filled with hubris mid-way through Deck Two, thinking that he could never reach Atlanta. Good grief, one card, just one more card drawn and the game was mine.
Richard, of course, took Atlanta and played the Election card. Yes, Richard had snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, in one of the quickest collapses I have ever seen by the CSA. All congratulations to Richard on brilliant Deck Two play.
Richard and I and my wife then went over to the Riverwalk for some great Mexican food....which they thoroughly enjoyed as I sighed and peppered the conversation with "might have beens" over Richard's BCOF upset.
Game Description
This two-player card game represents the American Civil War, 1861-1865, in the theaters of war east of the Mississippi River. Each player has his own Play Deck from which he will draw in order to play cards. In the game, each player will go though his Play Deck twice, with each deck representing roughly two years of the war. Each player has a Command Point Track, and a token (coin or other token provided by players) placed on the track keeps his current Command Point total. The Command Points in this game represent the economic, military, political and social factors that influenced the campaigns of the war, which in turn were influenced by the outcomes of the battles.The objective of the Union player is to capture all three Victory Condition cities (Richmond, Atlanta, Vicksburg) before the end of Deck Two; or, alternatively, to take any two of these cities and play the Presidential Election of 1864 card. The Confederate wins if the Union player cannot achieve his objectives.Latest on the Player Aid page: Brad Hurst has created two more cards for BCOF. Check them out on the Player Aids page!
