Introducing Simple Great Battles of the American Civil War

GBACW

“The Great Battles of the American Civil War (GBACW) system allows gamers to simulate American Civil War era battles on a regimental level, using mechanics that concentrate on the use, effects and personalities of battlefield command, as well as the tactical difficulty in maneuvering such large numbers of troops and bringing them to bear on the enemy.”

-2025 GBACW Living Rules Introduction

GMT’s GBACW is an enduring system with roots back to Richard Berg’s Terrible Swift Sword, published by SPI in 1976. It has proven to be adaptable to many Civil War battles and contains tremendous historical details relevant to regimental combat in the American Civil War. Such detail provides explicit narratives to the player of the individual exploits of each regiment represented.

However, this level of gaming comes at a price, both in rules and in time to play. The Series Rules are rooted in history but there are a lot of nuances for a player to remember (or look up) in the heat of a game. GBACW games have often tended towards large scale battles, with plenty of two, three, and four map games available, some of them multi-day affairs. It takes a long time (and often a team of players) to play the large battles to decision.

Why Have a Simple Version of GBACW?

GBACW is a detailed system that requires dedication (and often a knowledgeable friend) to learn. Additionally, it requires a large time commitment to play anything but the smallest battles. While veterans of the system will certainly say it is worth the time and effort, not everyone either has the time or is so inclined to play such intricate games. Simple GBACW is aimed at new players who are looking for a less involved system and for grognards who would like to complete scenarios, especially larger ones, in a faster time.

Enter Simple GBACW

Simple GBACW, or the Simple Version (SV) not to be confused with the Series Rules (SR), has been floating around for over two decades since Richard Berg posted the draft rules on the GMT website, and later on Consimworld. Richard never finished them to his satisfaction, and they largely remained out of the public eye. In 2019, GBACW experienced a revival, spearheaded by Dick Whitaker, Bill Byrne, and Greg Laubach with the publishing of Greg’s game, Death Valley. After devoting their time to revisiting the Series Rules and working on Death Valley, Dick and Bill tightened the SGBACW rules that Richard had left. However, progress stalled again due the heavy demands of designing and developing Into the Woods and other GBACW titles. Not wanting SGBACW to languish any longer, in the summer of 2023 Dick asked if I would see SGBACW through to publication.

Dick and Bill’s approach to the Simple Version was to fill in any gaps or ambiguities in Richard’s version. They simply did not have the time to develop any radical changes to the system. However, Dick gave me free reign of the design so long as the game was fun, dynamic, and resembled how Civil War battles looked. I took Dick at his word and subjected every portion of the rules to rigorous testing and changes. My twin design goals were smooth and historical gameplay. In the interest of smooth gameplay, I grouped like concepts together and kept exceptions to rules to a minimum. The results encouraged historical tactics and gave an appropriate historical “feel” to players.

It was helpful to have Richard’s rules as a starting point and to be able to use the Series Rules as a reference. Through the extensive revisions, the SGBACW rules have been brought more in line with the Series Rules, although the two still differ in innumerable details. The goal was never to design the Simple Version as an introductory system to the Series Rules. Still, most higher-level concepts found in SGBACW will be familiar to a veteran of GBACW.

State of Affairs

The final rulebook is only sixteen pages of rules but offers great depth and decision space for players. Overall, the game flow of the Simple Version is similar to that of the Series Rules, with many of the same options being available to players in either system. SGBACW focuses on the brigade as the unit of maneuver so some of the regimental scale, tactical details are not explicitly modeled. Players will find the system closer in complexity to that of Terrible Swift Sword, but without disregarding advances in hex and counter gaming from the last fifty years. Simple GBACW is certainly not simplistic but allows players to concentrate on fighting the battle instead of the game.

The current ruleset for SGBACW is tight, in large part because of a dedicated core group of playtesters including Darryl Sims, Bruce Wilson, Dave Brunner, Mark Merritt, Merv Cross, and others. Collectively, they have kept me focused on the design’s goals and ensured the rules writing is as clear and precise as possible. I cannot give enough credit to them in helping shape SGBACW. I have sent and received numerous lengthy emails and have benefited greatly from their collective knowledge and astute testing.

The Simple Version rules will debut in the upcoming 3 Days of Gettysburg – Deluxe Edition but plans are already in place to move the system both forward and backwards through the GBACW series. Conversions for several existing games are well underway and should be up for P500 pre-order soon.

Future InsideGMT articles are planned to give an overview of the Simple Version rules and gameplay.

---