The Blind Swords series was originally designed by Hermann Luttmann and published by Revolution Games. The product has now been split into a set of series rules and a playbook for each volume, and other designers have come on board, allowing the series to have now reached volume 12.

Vol 12 covers the first day at Gettysburg. Units are regiments and grouped within brigades. A chit draw system activates the brigades, bringing a natural chaos as the order of activation is most uncertain and there are also event chits placed into the chit draw that shake things up a bit.

I wanted this volume particularly for the opening hours of the battle, which is the part of the battle that interests me the most, with Heth probing the Chambersburg Pike and attacking across Willoughby's Run, pressing Buford's dismounted cavalry, who are desperate for support.

I am hoping that this will become the series that I rely upon for my ACW boardgaming.

I have been here before, having owned volumes I - IV, but each game had a single rulebook and the differences brought to each volume to model the batle, to my mind, became a bit difficult to track. By splitting the rules, so that the series part stays standard and any new rules and scenarios are placed into a playbook makes things much better in that regard.

This game harks back to 1975 when SPI launched a low complexity series for the American Civil War, called Blue & Gray. It was presented as two quads (I & II) and now some fifty years later, Decision Games have brought both quads back (8 battles) in their Deluxe line-up.

The original volume I had the battles of Antietam, Cemetery Hill, Chickamauga, Shiloh, to be later followed by Blue & Gray volume II, covering the battles of the Wilderness, Chattanooga, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville.

I have jumped back and forth between various ACW series, but of late, I am casting an eye back to some titles that were just easier to play. They might be 'simpler', but the rulebook stays in the box and just allows you to get on with playing.

The game sessions can be played in under a couple of hours, so make for the ideal mid-week game (ever elusive) and also allow for our short face-to-face sessions to reach a full game conclusion.

Over the years optional rules and variants have been put forwards by the fan base and these have been included with the ruleset for players to explore if they wish.

Eight battles in one place, what can I say!

In the menu on the left, there is a tab called 'Grayville Campaign 1863. This will detail the progress of a home brew ficticious campaign that I will be working through using my Epic ACW figures on a table that will be 4' x 4' or smaller and my own rules.

The inspiration for the game comes from the Charles Grant book 'Programmed Wargame Scenarios', which has a chapter on campaigns, covering two different campaign styles.

This is using the gridded version and will be an action that will likely cover around three days of fighting, with each day being split into Morning, Early Afternoon and Late Afternoon campaign turns.

Each side is represented by a division with the Union having a numerical advantage of 3:2, though initially the Confederate forces are dispersed so some early contacts will have higher combat ratios than that.

I will be using some of the 'programmed' instructions from the book for Confederate dispositions and responses and since these are driven by die rolls, the whole thing should remain quite fresh considering I have planned it all out and I am hoping that after afirst playing, some refinement will allow the campaign some re-playability.

The Series rules (Blind Swords) are by Hermann Luttmann and this module has been designed by Claude Whalen and published by Revolution Games.

It covers part of the fighting during the Battle of Chancellorsville on 3rd May, that happened near salem Church. 

I am advised that this is a good module to start the series with as it doesn't have as many 'things' going on as other titles.

The Series (Blind Swords) is designed by Hermann Luttmann and this module (volume 6) is designed by Matt Ward and published by Revolution Games.

The game covers the fighting on the first day (July 21st, 1861) of the Battle of the First Bull Run.

There are three scenarios: the initial clash at Matthews Hill and the battle for Henry House Hill. The third scenario covers the entire battle.

I bought this mostly for nostalgia reasons, as some decades ago, when I first met fellow board gamer Mike, we had many a good gaming session with the Avalon Hill production of Bull Run, (also known as the Battle of First Manassas). Can this do more of the same!