Edward Grabowski’s The Blue & The Gray

Edward Grabowski’s The Blue & The Gray description

This strategy is one of the many games popular in the West Civil war in the United States. Some of them take place in real time, part turn – based, and this game combines both modes together: you and your opponent give orders in turn, but in a tactical combat troops fighting in real-time. The combination of this gives a number of advantages, but it also has its disadvantages, but the overall balance of the game does not violate and gives it a special atmosphere.

You can choose as a campaign by one of the parties of southerners or northerners, and some historical battle (on the tactical map); two people can also play against each other in the hot-seat mode. On the strategic campaign map, you control the movement of troops (they can move as their own, and trains) and it was very simple economy built on the principle: "he took the city – got resources – spend it on recruitment or replenishment of the army."

By the way, the soldiers amongst their targets are and "quality" (Quality), which increases with getting combat experience, and if you combine, say, a thousand veterans, and ten thousand green recruits, the Quality of this military unit will immediately become not just normal but good – using it, you can recruit experienced troops.

It is worth noting a kind of "documentary news" - at the appropriate time you will receive historical information about any event or public figure in the USA of that era. Things like science or diplomacy, the game, alas, do not exist, but you can concentrate entirely on military action, the ultimate outcome of which is determined by the success of all battles.

In tactical battles you can see one of the downsides of combining modes real-time and turn-based: it turns out that usually wins the side which pulled on the battlefield more troops. But, on the other hand, good management of numerical superiority can be neutralized. It should be noted that the AI in battle a few weak attacks and your troops scattered and only if it has a considerable advantage in power.

The combat is interesting and provides many opportunities to achieve victory: infantry and cavalry can engage the enemy in melee or entrenched in defensible terrain to unleash on him rifle volleys, the artillery firing as the squares and parts, and so on.

In battle, the side that dealt the enemy a more heavy blow. And for those who like to analyze their actions, there is a special archive, which automatically recorded the data about absolutely all the battles that occurred during the current campaign.

The interface, in General, very simple, and you can give orders like every military unit individually or a group of parts or all of its troops immediately. Graphically, the game is done at the level not above average, but still note the year of its release...

In General, the game is good, but with its peculiarities, many of which are assessed differently: for some it's advantages, for some disadvantages. If you like The Blue & The Gray, pay attention to D-Day: The Beginning of the End – this game about the Second world war almost all similar, and many things in it are greatly improved.

Wish to enjoy your afternoon playing some classic videogames? Play Edward Grabowski’s The Blue & The Gray online for free here.

Source: Archive.org, Mobygames.com