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Battle Cry (box pic)
BATTLE CRY
by Richard Borg
BATTLE CRY
by Richard Borg
art unknown
publish AvalonHill Hasbro
Players: 2
Duration: players choose (40+ min.)

PACE: QUICK. Players are limited to actions available in their hand of cards, keep the pace at a nice tempo.
COMPLEXITY: MEDIUM. Lots of decisions, but after nailing a couple of the main ideas (terrain modifiers, line of sight, unit abilities), the game is fairly simple to execute.
LUCK: HIGH. Dice rolls and card draws make this game very lucky, can be bothersome, but understand how well it fits the theme. I don't know that many wars have worked out exactly the way people thought.
TENSION: HIGH. Theme draws you, simulating the tension of a battle with decisions and hoping for good luck. Not a strategy tension, but a good kind of luck tension.
VICIOUS: HIGH. What else would youe xpect from a 2 player war game?
SOCIAL: MEDIUM. Easy enough to talk around, but game only requires announcing of various attacks. Trashtalk and friendly threats.
VISUALS: VERY GOOD. Board uses cardboard hexes for terrain so nearly unlimited battlefields can be made. Plastic units look nice but can break. The board has a wonderful palette that suits the Civil War setting.
THEME: HIGH. Great art, great design -- solid battle atmosphere.
GAMER APPEAL: PROBABLY. Luck could be a neg, but wargamers looking for something shorter they can play more often will like it.
NON-GAMER APPEAL: PROBABLY. War theme may not be for everyone, but the best battle game I have ever played.
2 PLAYERS: YES.
REPLAY: EXCELLENT. So many battlefields and series of battles evens out luck, and keeps game fresh.

I've played 5+ times.
Good with 2 players.
Best with 2 players.
Battle Cry (board pic)
Quick summary | Union versus Confederate. Artillery pounding in the distance, soldiers making a brave run to try and take a hill in the face of withering fire from the enemy. Generals rallying the troops and charging into battle. This game, with it's combination of cards and dice, steps beyond Risk and becomes a battle game with many choices. This is light enough to learn easily, but realistic enough that armchair generals who use terrains and units well will win a big majority of games.
This page by Yirmeyahu Avery