Written by Edward Pauley, The Blue-Light Manual costs $17.95. Its ground scale is one inch equals fifty feet and one turn equals one half hour. One miniature figure equals thirty infantry, thirty cavalry, or eighteen artillerists; one model gun and two artillerists equal one gun section. The rules also provide stand sizes for 15mm scale figures.

The Blue-Light Manual is a set of ACW rules of average scale and above-average complexity. The complexity results from the way in which the central rules work, and from the number of special rules. The melee, fire combat and casualty rules require multi-stage computations of factors and modifiers, which calculate the results in terms of casualties.

By comparison, the morale and movement rates are fairly straight-forward. Morale losses are stated in terms of demoralized figures which are equivalent to casualties. Infantry, cavalry, and artillery have three movement options which are affected by formation and previous movement options. For example, if you choose to move an infantry unit at double time for one turn, it can only move at common time (at the most) during the following turn.

I would recommend these rules to ACW gamers who want to command a division or small corps, and who like complex fire and melee rules resolution. I would not recommend them for "beer and pretzels" gamers or for use in large battles.

The Blue-Light Manual is available from Modellers Mart, 16100 Fairchild Drive, Clearwater, Florida, 34622, for a total of $20.65 ($17.95 plus $2.70 shipping.)

Other Reviews

Jackson's Valley Campaign by David Martin
Touched With Fire rules
Chariot Miniatures 10mm ACW range

Back to The Zouave Vol IX No. 3 Table of Contents
© Copyright 1995 The American Civil War Society

This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web.
Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com